Destiny Is A Bittersweet Taste
by Strafe
Summary: Jimmy finds a new mineral & 2 old enemies out to get him. With it becoming hard to deny how he feels towards Cindy, will he be able to defeat his enemies or will he risk losing the one person he loves most? Rated T for later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**Destiny Is A Bittersweet Taste**

Disclaimer: I don't own Jimmy Neutron or any characters or gadgets and equipment associated with the Jimmy Neutron TV program (unfortunately).

In this story the kids are all young adults aged 20 (Sheen is 22).

**Chapter 1: Asteroid Embarrassment**

Jimmy cracked his knuckles and picked up his laser shovel and began eyeing the ground. He moved a few steps forward then thrust his shovel into the ground, grunting loudly in a vain effort to make the shovel bite deeper into the rocky ground. He pulled back and lifted the shovel, causing some of the rock to break off and lay on his shovel as he brought it out of the ground.

"Goddard, analyze the asteroid chunk for trace elements of Mineral #265." Jimmy ordered his robotic pet.

Goddard barked as his back opened and a hand extended carrying a scanner. The hand came over the chunk of rock and Goddard began scanning it for what Jimmy was after.

Jimmy knew the scanning would take a few minutes as it had to be a thorough scan so he had decided to observe his companions. First he looked over to Carl and Sheen who, as usual, hadn't really done much in the way or work and were busy arguing about something.

"_Probably still about where Baloney comes from or something to do with Ultra Lord and llamas."_ Jimmy thought to himself.

His gaze moved to the right where he saw Libby dancing away to some music. Granted she had done more work than Carl and Sheen put together, but still very little had been done.

"_It's a good thing that I knew those 3 wouldn't be too much help to begin with. Scientific journeys into space aren't their kind of thing if work is involved. Nonetheless, their conversations can keep me amused while we are out here."_ Jimmy thought.

Finally, he looked further right and saw Cindy busy digging away. Jimmy's shoulders slumped slightly and his mouth dropped open.

"_Oh Cindy, as usual you are working hard for me. Where the others fail to see my goals you know what I want to achieve."_ Jimmy's eyes glazed over as he starred at Cindy. _"I should have enough time to pay you a little visit."_

Jimmy began walking over to Cindy, fixed on her actions and admiring her well built form. Cindy stopped for a moment to wipe sweat off her brow and shake her head, her blonde ponytail swaying back and forth a few times before stopping. Seeing this, Jimmy promptly started drooling as he approached her.

"H-hey Cindy, how are you getting along?" Jimmy asked nervously as he got close to her.

"Doing fine I guess, James. You know if this stuff has what you want in it yet?" She asked looking up at Jimmy as their eyes met and her gaze became fixed on Jimmy's eyes.

"Goddard will be able to tell me soon…" Jimmy stopped mid-sentence. "Erm…I was wondering…once we get back to Retroville. Er…"

"Yes?" Cindy raised an eyebrow and a hopefully expression formed on her face.

"Well…I…er…you see…" Jimmy stammered _"Come on Goddard, that scan must be done now. Save me from this!"_

Across the asteroid, Libby had run over to Sheen and Carl.

"Hey guys! Look! Cindy and Jimmy are over there by themselves. I think Jimmy is gonna ask Cindy out tonight." Libby said with an evil grin appearing on her face.

Carl and Sheen whirled around to see Jimmy nervously trying to ask Cindy something.

"Awesome! This is almost as good as watching the European Director's cut of UltraLord Episode number 27: Ultra Lord vs. Robo Fiend's creator, with six minutes and two seconds of bonus footage!" Sheen said in his normal hyperactive way.

"Aww, Jimmy and Cindy getting together at last. How many years have we been trying to get them together now?" Carl asked.

"Ten." Libby replied.

"Hey Jimmy! Cindy! Get a lab!" Sheen shouted.

"Sheen! You're ruining out fun!" Libby exclaimed as she smacked Sheen on his right shoulder.

"Ow!" Sheen yelped as he rubbed his shoulder. "Come on, I was only trying to embarrass them!"

When Jimmy and Cindy heard Sheen, they both turned to Sheen and glared angrily at him. Cindy moved a few steps forward and clenched one of her hands into a fist.

"Shut your yap Ultra Freak or I'll shut it for ya!" She yelled, waving her fist at Sheen. As she turned away, she looked straight at Jimmy who in turn looked at her. Both of them smiled before realising what they were doing and both turned away blushing slightly.

Sheen, Carl and Libby all burst out laughing at the antics of their friends when they were interrupted by Goddard.

"Bark!" Goddard flew to Jimmy and printed off the report on the analysis of the rock sample. Jimmy took the paper and patted Goddard on the head affectionately.

"Thanks Goddard." Jimmy said as he began to read the report. "Hmm…yes…yes…YES! There is some of this mineral in this asteroid! Libby, Carl and Sheen! Get what you have mined and put it into the ship's cargo hold."

"Is there enough for what you want Jimmy?" Cindy asked.

"There should be but I'll need to scan all of this back in the lab to determine how much there is." Jimmy replied "Let's get all this on board."

They all began hauling the rock chunks back to Jimmy's ship and loading it up. After a few minutes work they had finished and climbed aboard to head back to Earth.

"Right, everyone buckle up and we'll head back home. This has been quite a good day for us indeed." Jimmy told the rest of his crew.

The ship Jimmy had created was the newest in his array of high tech creations. It was faster than anything he had ever built (that actually worked) and it was much larger, ideal of large scale operations in space such as heavy mining operations which he was hoping to be able to do with the new mineral he and his friends had found. However, since this ship was much larger, Jimmy had had to make more controls and dials to check that everything was within operational limits and thus he now needed a co-pilot to operate all the controls.

Normally Jimmy would have Goddard to help him but today Cindy had managed to get her hands on the co-pilot's job. Jimmy would have preferred Goddard but he had to admit to himself that Cindy was more than capable of helping control the ship, thanks to his lessons on how to control it. Plus he didn't really trust Carl, Sheen and Libby to be able to do an effective job.

"Hey guys, notice how Jimmy trained Cindy to fly his ship but not us." Libby said to Carl and Sheen quietly.

"Yeah, it's almost as if Jimmy wanted to have some quiet alone time with Cindy." Sheen replied, his voice purposely loud enough for Jimmy and Cindy to hear him. Carl giggled as Sheen's remark.

"Jimmy, where was that ejector button again to get rid of annoying passengers?" Cindy asked Jimmy, clearly making her point what she was not amused with Sheen at all.

"Why, it's right here Cindy. Why don't we 'accidentally' push it while we are flying back to Earth and see what happens." Jimmy said with much frustration in his voice as he turned and gave Sheen an aggressive look.

"Sorry Jimmy." Sheen smiled while trying not to laugh.

Jimmy and Cindy prepped the ship for take off before both going for the throttle control, Jimmy ending up with his hand on top of Cindy's. They looked at each other and blushed before Jimmy took his hand off and turned away very embarrassed, Cindy doing the exact same.

Carl and Sheen sniggered and then started singing "Jimmy and Cindy sitting in a tree". Jimmy and Cindy both turned and glared at them, causing their two friends to stop singing but giggle instead. Libby looked away from the group and quietly sniggered to herself, not wanting to incur the wrath of Jimmy or Cindy.

"Okay, perhaps now we can leave for home." Jimmy said, calming himself down and regaining his composure. "Prepare for lift-off."

"Thrusters engaged. Power cells at optimum level for return to Earth and course set in for Retroville." Cindy stated as she read off the instruments.

Jimmy put his hand on the throttle. "Lifting off in five, four, three, two, one…LIFT OFF!"

The rockets ignited and urged the ship forward, powering along the asteroid until it had reached a sufficient speed when Jimmy and Cindy both pulled on their control sticks to pull the ship off the asteroid's surface and into space.

"Take the ship out of the asteroid belt and then engage the auto-pilot." Jimmy told Cindy before turning to the others. "We should be home in five and a half hours."

* * *

However, in another part of the asteroid belt was another ship, one much larger than Jimmy's. 

"Prepare to follow and engage them as soon as they've cleared Saturn's rings." One person said.

A second laughed crazily. "Now, old bean, we'll show you that you can't win."

"Oh be quiet. Your laugh is really irritating me now, I don't know why I agreed to join forces with you again." The first said.

"Because, old chap, we both hate Neutron and want to defeat him once and for all. Besides, if it wasn't for me and my large amounts of money, we would never have been able to make this thing."

"'We'? What do you mean 'We'. I'M the one built this thing from scratch; you just kept saying 'I'm not touching anything. Other people do all my work for me'."

"Oh shut up and focus you old fogy. Neutron is getting away!"

"Full speed ahead and onwards to destiny; the oh so tragic end of Jimmy Neutron!" The first laughed maniacally.

* * *

First chapter done, with the next coming in a weeks time (Ive written few chapters out bt since I play Worldof Warcraft a lot, it will give me time to write more of the later chapters).

Bit of a slow start to ths story but the action picks up quickly, so I hope it'll be better than it might appear.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Jimmy Neutron or any characters and such associated with Jimmy Neutron.

Chapter 2: Fly Jimmy, Fly

As their ship flew amongst the stars heading for Earth, Jimmy and the gang were watching the wonder of Saturn's rings, except for Sheen who was playing with one of his Ultra Lord action figures.

"They look so wonderful." Cindy commented with a relaxed smile on her face.

"They are a scientific wonder, a pleasing sight to one's eyes." Jimmy said.

"Yeah, yeah, Saturn has nice rings. Not as cool as my new Ultra Lord action figure with Atomic Blaster Rifle and depleted Uranium powered laser arm mounted cannon." Sheen said with excitement.

"That's stupid Sheen. How can a laser possibly be powered by Uran-Yourani…whatever it was?" Carl questioned.

"Carl, you are so young and naïve. This is Ultra Lord, he can have anything he wants and it works because he has the greatest minds backing him up in every galaxy…except for Jimmy of course as Jimmy's things usually go wrong." Sheen tried to explain.

Jimmy coughed loudly with a hint of frustration noticeable within it.

"Oh, sorry Jimmy. I forgot you were here." Sheen apologised sheepishly.

"Anyway, only a few more hours and we'll be back home so who wants to watch some Jet Fusion movies in the meantime?" Jimmy asked.

"Cool! Lay it on us Jim!" Sheen exclaimed with the others agreeing.

"Alrightly then, Goddard, if you would be so kind." Jimmy asked his robotic pet.

Goddard moved to one side of the ship and opened his back. A TV screen popped out and unfolded before their eyes.

"Wow James. How did you manage to fit Goddard with that?" Cindy asked.

"Trust me, it wasn't easy. It took many days and nights to be able to create a compound that would do that and still give us high quality pictures." Jimmy replied as the first Jet Fusion movie started.

* * *

Unbeknowst to the group, another ship was catching them up and about to attempt to ruin their day. 

"There is Neutron right now. Arm all weapons and prepare to fire on his little ship!" The older member of the other ship said.

"Why can't I give the orders? I paid for this thing!" The other protested.

"Because I'm smarter than you are AND I built this thing!" The first retorted.

The second grumbled and fiddled with various switches randomly. He pressed a button and a panel next to him opened and a pop tart appeared.

"Oh nice. I haven't had one of these in ages." He said to himself as he took the pop tart and began to eat it.

The first wasn't amused and sighed, putting one of his hands across his eyes. "You really are a complete ninny aren't you? Luckily for you none of those buttons you pushed caused any of the missiles to launch with the launch bay door closed. I'll have to do it." He scorned his companion and began pressing various controls.

"Target locked. Ready to fire missile…FIRE!" He yelled as he pressed the fire button.

A homing missile burst from the space ship and flew at speed towards Jimmy's ship.

* * *

Jimmy and the others were engrossed in the Jet Fusion movie, so much for Jimmy that he had got out of the pilot's seat and sat almost in front of the screen. Cindy, however, paid more attention to Jimmy than to the movie. 

"_He is as Jet Fusion is in that movie. Strong, heroic, smart and handsome. I wish I knew how to get him interested in me. Sure, he likes me but I don't know if he likes me more than just as a friend."_ She thought to herself.

Th radar bleeped as something had come within it's range. However, Cindy was too focused on Jimmy to notice it and she started to day dream about him. _"How I wish he would hold he close to him and say the words I long to hear from him. 'I love you, Cindy' he would say an I would say 'I love you too, James' back to him."_

Suddenly a siren blared at a painfully loud level, snapping Cindy out of her day dream.

"What the heck is that?" Libby asked in shock.

Goddard immediately switched the movie off and the TV packed away into his back. Jimmy leapt into action and darted for the pilot's chair.

"I don't like it! Make it stop! Make it stop Jimmy!" Carl screamed.

"We're gonna die! We'll be torn apart into little pieces and made to suffer! Why do the good die young?" Sheen yelled in terror, overeating a bit.

"Sheen! Calm down!" Jimmy yelled as he jumped into his chair and whirled round to face the controls. "We've got a missile on us! Hold on guys this is gonna be a rough ride!" He yelled.

Goddard opened his chest and on his screen came a "Fasten your seat belts" warning before he jumped into a compartment of the ship and retracted his leg, tail and head into his body.

"Cindy, I need you to tell me howclose the missile is. Ive got a few tricks up my sleeve." Jimmy told Cindy.

Cindy nodded as she watched the radar screen. "The missile is within 3000 yards and closing at a rate of 300 yards per second over our own current speed." She said.

Jimmy silently cursed to himself. He didn't have much time to try to out manoeuvre the missile.

"1200, 900, 600." Cindy read off the radar.

Jimmy yanked on the control stick to as far to left as he could take it, hauling the ship into a sharp turn. Carl grabbed onto his seat in fear, he didn't want to get thrown about all over the ship.

The homing missile shot past and then began to turn and aim back towards Jimmy's ship. Jimmy pulled the stick back the other way and pulled the stick back as well making the ship make a sharp climb to the right.

"I've gotta get that missile in front of us." He said to Cindy.

"Why? I don't understand." She questioned.

"Because…" Jimmy stopped as he throttled the ship down and made a 180 degree turn then throttled it back up so now the ship was flying directly towards the missile. "…I can activate the cannons I installed on the front to blow the missile up." He finished as he activated the laser cannons.

The missile hurtled towards them and Jimmy jinxed the ship to the left and the missile shot past again. As the missile began to turn around, Jimmy throttled the ship down to one third power and turned to the right, them same way the missile was turning.

"Jimmy! Are you trying to get us killed?!" Libby shouted.

"My ship has a better turning circle at one third throttle than at full throttle. Since the missile can't reduce its speed I can lock onto it." He explained quickly. "Come on baby, come to Jimmy." He muttered to himself quietly, focused on the missile.

Jimmy now had the missile in front of him and he locked onto the missile. A few bursts of energy fired from the ship's laser cannons and the struck the missile, causing it to explode. Jimmy grinned at his success but he knew it wasn't over yet.

"Uh, Jimmy? We seem to have another ship on radar and they are hailing us." Cindy told him.

"Put it on screen."

Cindy nodded and punched up the main screen. Two figures appeared.

"Hello again Jimmy." The first said.

Jimmy's jaw dropped. He knew that voice.

"Surprised to see me aren't you? Thought I was finished did you?"

"Finbarr Calamitous! How were you able to come up with a ship that big? Last I saw you were locked in jail." Jimmy asked.

"So glad that you asked Mr. Neutron, for you see I have had some help with that." Professor Calamitous chucked. "Please allow me to introduce you to my accomplice, one of the worst accomplices I've ever worked with but with enough money to buy me out of prison and to build this ship…" He stopped. A few moments later he looked around. "I said: but with enough money to buy me out of prison and to build this ship."

Jimmy and Cindy looked at each other with confused looks on their faces while Carl, Sheen and Libby all raised an eyebrow.

"That's your queue to show yourself you moron!" Calamitous shouted angrily.

"Oh sorry, I had just gone to visit the little rich boy's room." The second giggled "Why, James Neutron. How deliciously exciting to see you again." He said.

"Eustace Strych!" All five on Jimmy's ship shouted.

"The one and only. So, tell me old bean, how the heck have you been over the last few years? Dating that adorable yet so easy to fool Cindy Vortex yet?" Eustace asked.

Jimmy's cheeks reddened slightly, however, Cindy was furious. "You come over and say that again, you snooty pipehead!"

"Ooo, touched a nerve there did I?" Eustace giggled again.

"Oh for goodness sake. I'm terribly sorry about this Mr. Neutron but Eustace is a bit of a clot, but I would suspect you already know that." Calamitous said as he smacked Eustace on the back of the head. Eustace whimpered and backed away.

"You see Jimmy, we're here for revenge. I won't bother boring you to death with all the details but anyway, have fun with some more missiles and if they don't work, we'll see how you stand up in some ship to ship combat. Ta ta Jimmy." The screen flicked off then back on. "Oh and in case you're wondering, when I got out of prison I finished that last self help class online so now I can finish everything." The screen flicked off again.

* * *

"Fire!" Calamitous shouted. 

Two homing missiles roared out of Calamitous' ship and rocketed towards Jimmy's ship.

"He's not kidding Jimmy; we've got two missiles on us now." Cindy said.

"Leaping leptons! He's really gone insane." Jimmy exclaimed before regaining his composure. "Right, trust me on this, guys, I'm gonna need to keep both of those missiles behind me."

Jimmy put the ship into full throttle, making a dash towards Io, one of Jupiter's moons.

"_If I can get this ship to roll on it's axis I just might be able to get the two missiles to collide."_ He thought to himself. "Cindy! I need you hold the ship steady while I rotate it on its axis."

"What? What good will that do?" She asked

"Trust me, it's our only hope. Swap seats with me. Carl, Sheen, Libby, I need you three to stay buckled up tight and hold onto something as this is going to be a dizzy ride." Jimmy said as he got out of his seat and swapped with Cindy.

"Uh Jimmy, what do I do if I feel sick?" Carl asked.

"Not the time for questions Carl." Jimmy replied.

"Oh…okay."

As asked, Cindy held the ship steady and Jimmy started to roll the ship round and round on its axis. The homing missiles began to rotate; following the ship's every move.

"_I know what he's up to! He's going to make the missiles slam into each other."_ Cindy thought to herself.

On Calamitous' ship, Eustace was intrigued with what Jimmy was doing.

"Why is he rolling around and around?" He asked.

"Hmm…if I didn't know better I say he's trying to make the missiles rotate into each other. Quick you brainless idiot, full speed ahead! We must keep Neutron in range!"

"I'm not an idiot." Eustace protested.

"Oh? Then how comes you can't do the most basic of things right without someone watching over you?" Calamitous asked.

"Erm…because I can pay to have someone do it for me?" Eustace answered weakly.

Calamitous just sighed.

* * *

The amount of rolls that Jimmy was making the ship was beginning to take its toll on the crew. Carl had already been sick twice and Sheen about to be sick. 

"Can you…stop rolling…the ship…please, Jimmy?" Libby asked.

"Not many…more rotations to go before…I can slow it down." Jimmy replied.

Cindy, however, was really feeling incredibly dizzy. Her grasp on the pilot's control stick loosened and the ship began to move slightly to the right.

"Cindy!" Jimmy shouted.

But it was too late, Cindy was passing out.

"_I'm sorry Jimmy. I'm so sorry."_ She thought as the sweet blackness consumed her.

"Goddard! Keep the ship steady!" Jimmy shouted to his pet.

Goddard appeared from out of the compartment he was hiding and leaped into the pilot's seat, sitting on Cindy's lap. An arm appeared out of his back and grabbed the stick and moved it left a bit so the ship was back to where it should be.

Carl groaned and passed out while Sheen threw up and Libby screwed her eyes shut as she began to loose consciousness. She hoped Jimmy would be able to keep awake so they could survive.

"Go Jimmy…save us…" Sheen said as he too passed out.

Jimmy opened his eyes and looked at the radar; he could see the missiles were rotating in the same path now. He slowed the rolls down slightly and the missiles began to rotate slower too, getting closer and closer to each other.

"_Just a few more rotations."_ Jimmy thought.

"Fire all remaining missiles. Neutron won't escape us! I won't allow it!" Calamitous shouted.

"Target locked, Professor. Ready to fire." Eustace said.

"I know you pea brained fool…Fire!"

The remaining five missiles launched out of Calamitous' ship and headed for Jimmy's ship.

Jimmy stopped rotating the ship and the two missiles collided into each other and exploded. The explosion was huge and Jimmy's ship got caught in the edge of the explosion, disrupting its flight path and knocking Jimmy's head against the controls. He groaned as he looked the radar and saw five more missiles heading for his ship.

"Goddard…take evasive action…I can't…stay…" He said as the blackness overcame him.

Goddard looked at the radar and whimpered. Even a genius robot dog might not be able to escape this one without someone else to help. It almost looked like it was the end for Jimmy and his companions.

To be continued...

* * *

Chapter 2 done, and I hope you all enjoyed it.

As with last time, I'll be putting Chapter 3 up next Wednesday so you'll al have to wait :)

Oh and thanks for the reviews.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Jimmy Neutron or anything associated with Jimmy Neutron.

Chapter 3: Lost on Io, Hope to Come

Cindy groaned as she came to. She placed a hand on her forehead as she had the most awful of headaches.

"How much did I drink last night?" She asked herself as she slowly sat up.

She opened her eyes and blinked a few times until her vision became clear. Something was wrong, very wrong indeed.

"This isn't my room…this isn't even Earth." She said as she looked up into the sky. Her jaw dropped when she saw the huge mass of the planet Jupiter seemingly above her. She looked into other parts of the sky to try to determine exactly where she was. "I must be…on Io. But…how?"

She got up and looked around and saw the crashed remains of Jimmy's ship. Instantly fearing for Jimmy's life, and a few moments after, her friends' lives, she tried to run over but almost fell flat on her face. She looked down and saw she had almost tripped on a metal panel that had once belonged to the ship so she started stepped over it and proceeded to move towards the ship.

* * *

Calamitous' ship raced through the stars as they headed back to Earth after their victory over Jimmy Neutron and his companions.

"Ahh, that felt good finally getting rid of Neutron and company." Eustace said to Calamitous.

"Oh yes, I must say it's wonderfully good. Now I can finally take over Earth and rule it with an inventors iron fist!" Calamitous proclaimed.

"_Take over the planet over my dead body, old man. When we get back to Earth and set in phase three of our plan, I'll knock you off."_ Eustace thought to himself.

"Don't worry though, boy. I won't be forgetting to reward you; I'll let you rule over one continent of your own choosing, after I've taken a few for my own." Calamitous continued. _"And when I have no more use for your money, I'll get rid of you and take everything for myself!"_ He thought.

* * *

Cindy finally reached the ship and surveyed the damage. The engines were damaged, the main reactor was leaking coolant, most of the electrical systems needed repairing, part of the front of the ship had fallen off and there seemed to be a few critical hull damage areas and a lot of minor ones, although surprisingly the wings seemed to be fine.

She forced the airlock open and entered the ship and saw Libby, Sheen and Carl all still in their seats. None of them were moving though, but that wasn't her immediate concern as she couldn't see Jimmy or Goddard anywhere.

"Jimmy! Jimmy, are you here?" She shouted, hoping he was conscious but she just couldn't see him. _"Oh Jimmy, where are you? I'm worried sick about you."_

She was startled when she heard a groan from behind her. She whirled around and saw Carl starting to come round. Cindy moved over to him and unbuckled his seat belt and eased him to the floor.

"Oh my head." Carl whined.

"Take it easy Carl. I've got to see how the others are." Cindy said as she moved to Libby.

"Cindy? Where are we?" Carl asked as he sat up.

"On Io, one of Jupiter's moons. We seem to have crash landed here." Cindy explained. "Thank goodness, Libby is alive; she's just unconscious." Cindy moved to check on Sheen.

"Is Jimmy okay?" Carl asked

Cindy turned her head slightly and then looked back at Sheen and began checking for a pulse.

"Cindy? Is Jimmy okay?" Carl asked again.

"I don't know Carl. He's not here in the ship and neither is Goddard…I'm beginning to fear they didn't make it." Cindy told Carl, fighting back a tear. "Thankfully Sheen and Libby are alright though."

"So, what do we do now?" Carl asked yet another question.

Cindy sighed and sat down, holding her hands against her temples. "I don't know Carl, I just don't know."

* * *

Goddard flew through space in his Fly-cycle mode with Jimmy on his back. He had been able to set Jimmy's ship down on Io after doing his best to evade the missiles that Calamitous and Eustace has fired at them. Right now, he needed to get back to Earth and get Judy and Hugh to come and rescue the others, but they would all need Jimmy's help in getting to Io and rescuing Jimmy's friends.

Goddard was worried about Jimmy though, as Jimmy had been thrown against the ship's left side as it crash landed and fell heavily on his left arm. Jimmy needed to get back to Judy and Hugh as soon as possible.

* * *

It was 9pm and Judy was starting to get worried about Jimmy. He hadn't returned home yet and he hadn't phoned to say he was either staying at someone else's house or he would be late.

"Hugh, I'm getting a bit worried about Jimmy."

"Oh don't worry sugar booger. I'm sure Jimmy could have taken the sweet Cindy Vortex out on a date and he's just forgotten what the time is." Hugh replied.

Both Jimmy's parents had seen the signs that their son had a crush on Cindy and that Cindy secretly desired Jimmy, although Cindy would never admit it.

"Maybe I'll just pop over to the Vortex's and see if Cindy said anything to them." Judy said as she got up and got to the front door. "Honey, could you pop over next door and ask the Wheezers if Carl knows anything?"

"Okay pudding pants." Hugh replied as he got out of his chair and followed Judy out of the house, rather reluctantly.

Hugh walked round to the Wheezers and knocked on the door. Mr. Wheezer opened the door.

"Hey Hugh, just the guy I was going to see myself." He said.

"Hey Wheezer, Judy's got a worry about Jimmy and she's wondering if Carl knows where he is since they have that whole best friend thing between them." Hugh said to Mr. Wheezer.

"Well that's the thing. Carl isn't home and I was going to ask you if you have heard from Jimmy." Carl's father replied.

"Well Judy has just gone to ask the Vortex's if they know where Jimbo is. Hmm…come on over and we'll wait for Judy to come back and see what she says." Hugh offered.

"Right. Honey! I'm just going over to the Neutrons' to see if Judy knows where Jimmy and Carl are!" Mr. Wheezer shouted as they left.

* * *

Judy knocked on the door of the Vortex house and waited for an answer. After a few moments, Cindy's mother answered.

"Oh, hello Judy." She said.

"Hello, is Cindy home?" Judy asked.

"No, she went out with Libby earlier today. I wouldn't normally expect her back for another hour or so." Mrs. Vortex explained.

"Oh, it's just that Jimmy went out with Carl and Sheen today and he should be home now but he hasn't left a message or phoned saying he was going to be late or anything, so I thought that maybe, since he's quite fond of Cindy, that they might have met up tonight." Judy explained.

Cindy's mother laughed lightly and shook her head.

"What's so funny?" Judy asked.

"The thought of James and Cynthia on a date together; she doesn't like him very much I'm afraid Judy, so I can't really see that happening."

Judy frowned. _"It would seem that you don't know your own daughter's feelings towards my Jimmy."_ She thought to herself. "Well, thanks anyway. Bye."

Judy had hoped that Hugh had had better luck with the Wheezers as she walked home.

* * *

Sheen stirred from his blackout and opened his eyes.

"Man, I feel like I've just been hit by Robo Fiend's Photon Blast and then pummelled for few hundred times by Butch and finally had all the blood rush my head. " He groaned.

"Hey Sheen. I found this up by the controls." Carl said as he handed Sheen his Ultra Lord action figure.

Sheen took the action figure and his jaw dropped. "It's…it's…melted! Nooooooooo! It's a tragedy!" He shouted.

"Pipe down Ultra freak!" Cindy yelled as she smacked him "If you haven't noticed Jimmy and Goddard are gone and we're trapped on this rock that is Io!"

Sheen rubbed his cheek. "What's Io?" He asked.

Cindy sighed. "One of Jupiter's moons. We crash landed here and I have no idea how we are getting off this rock and back home without Jimmy's help and since we don't know where he is we are stuck." She explained.

"Shouldn't we look for him?" Sheen asked as he unbuckled himself and got out of the chair, immediately having his back cause him pain.

"For now, I'm afraid we can't. We need to rest for a few days until our injuries have healed sufficiently for us to be able to trek over this moon. Plus, we could run the risk of the ship being found and with none of us here, we could be assumed dead." She finished explaining to both Carl and Sheen.

"I hope Jimmy is alright…maybe Goddard is still functioning and will find us." Carl said.

"What will we do if Jimmy is dead, Cindy?" Sheen asked.

"He's not dead…he can't be." Cindy said as she turned away from them, not wanting them to see a tear fall down her cheek.

"It's okay to admit you worried, Cindy. We are too." Carl said as he got up and put a reassuring hand on Cindy's shoulder.

"_But you might find out how I feel about him deep down."_ Cindy thought to herself.

* * *

It was near total chaos inside the Neutrons' house. Judy had found out that none of the parents knew where their offspring had gone to and now Mr. Estevez, the Wheezers, Vortex's and the Folfax's had gone to the Neutrons', all claiming that Jimmy is behind their disappearance.

"Calm down all of you!" Judy shouted. "Jumping to conclusions about the whereabouts of our boys and girls is not going to help us find them!"

They all stopped throwing accusations and listened to Judy.

"Now I've phoned the Candy Bar and Sam hasn't seen them and they haven't been to the cinema or even anywhere near school. Hugh has checked Jimmy's lab and there is no sign of them or even Goddard there, but I do haven an idea." She told them. "As Goddard isn't here or in Jimmy's lab, that means that Jimmy took Goddard with him. Now, Jimmy gave me Goddard's homing signal code so I can track Goddard in such an event as this."

Cindy's and Libby's parents looked sceptical but Carl's parents and Sheen's dad looked a bit more hopeful, which Judy was glad of.

"So we go down into James' lab and find out where Goddard is? How will that tell us where are kids our?" Mr. Wheezer asked.

"It won't directly, but I can tell Goddard to come home immediately and tell us what happened." Judy replied. "And before you ask, don't forget that Goddard is programmed to do 11,000,004 things so he will be able to tell or show us what happened."

"But he can't clean up after himself though. It's kind of like a chore for me really." Hugh stated.

Everyone looked at him questioningly as they started to make their way out of the house and across to Jimmy's clubhouse.

"What? It's one of the few things he can't do." Hugh said.

Judy sighed as they all stood just outside Jimmy's clubhouse. Judy took a strand of hair out from Jimmy's comb and held it in front of the scanner. The hair follicle was scanned and access granted; the 'Welcome' mat opening and the parents all falling down the tube into Jimmy's lab, the parents screaming (except for Judy and Hugh) as they fell down the tube.

"Ow my back!" Mr. Wheezer complained as he hit the floor.

"Despite all his inventions, why can't Jimmy have invented a more comfortable way into his lab?" Asked Mr. Vortex as he rubbed his lower back.

"You get used to it after the thirteenth or fourteenth time." Hugh commented back.

They all got up off the floor and Judy and Hugh walked over to Jimmy's main computer, the other parents in awe of how big Jimmy's lab was and how much he had in here. Judy activated Goddard's homing signal.

"Well, he's not on Earth." Judy said as she zoomed out to look at a larger scale. "But he is close to Earth…seems he's just passing the Moon now."

The other parents were in shock. Judy ignored the gasps and activated the microphone.

"Goddard? This is Jimmy's mother. Come straight back here as I want to know where Jimmy and all his friends are." Judy said.

Goddard barked a response and whined a few times.

"Good boy." Judy said as she turned the microphone off. "Well ladies and gentlemen; our questions will be answered in about another half an hour or so."

* * *

Libby groaned as she came to. Her head was spinning wildly and she felt as though she had drunk a few gallons of alcohol and now had the mightiest of hangovers.

"Libby! You're awake!" Sheen said gleefully.

"Sheen…where are we?" Libby asked.

"On some strange moon called…er…Io I think. I think that's what Cindy said." Sheen said to Libby.

"Io? Orbiting Jupiter?" Libby asked.

"I dunno, I'm not an Astrologist." Sheen replied.

Libby rolled her eyes and then unbuckled and got off her seat. Her legs were painful and her back hurt.

"Where's Cindy?" She asked.

"She's outside checking the ship over to determine how much damage was caused when we crashed." Carl said.

"And Jimmy?" Libby asked

"Dunno…dead probably." Sheen blurted.

Libby's jaw dropped. "Jimmy is dead? What about Goddard?"

"Maybe dead, we don't know. Goddard and Jimmy are missing, that's all we know." Sheen explained.

"Cindy doesn't want to believe that Jimmy is dead, and neither do I. You should check on her Libby, she might be more open to talk to you about her feeling towards Jimmy…plus we will need her if we want to get off this moon." Carl suggested.

"Your right Carl, I bet she feels really down at the moment as I know that deep down she wants Jimmy more than anything in the galaxy." Libby said as she started to walk to the air lock and out of the ship.

Once she had gone, Carl looked over at Sheen, who was holding his slightly melted action figure, shaking his head.

"Do you think Cindy really loves Jimmy that much?" He asked.

"As much as Jimmy wants her I would say." Sheen replied.

Carl giggled slightly. "They are both so silly. If they just admit they like each other it would be so much better for them."

"Yeah, but we wouldn't get to make nearly as much fun of them though." Sheen replied.

There was silence between the two for a few moments.

"I just know Jimmy is alive." Carl said.

"I believe he is too, Carl. At this point we need to believe he is."

Carl nodded as his friend as they sat on the floor together, waiting for Cindy or Libby to come back into the ship.

To be continued…

* * *

Yep, I'm gonna make you all wait another week for the next chapter (although at the time I upload this chapter, it's Tuesday in America, it's Wednesday in England)

The weeks seem to be rolling off very quickly now so although a week might seem a while to some of you, to me it'll feel more like three or four days.

Find out what happens to Jimmy and Goddard when they get back to Earth and what happens to Cindy, Carl and Libby next week. Hope you enjoyed reading this chapter.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own Jimmy Neutron or any characters and gizmos associated with Jimmy Neutron.

Chapter 4: R & R (Repair and Rescue)

Cindy sighed as she looked over the main reactor for what seemed the thousandth time. Not matter how much she looked at and from how many different angles, it still didn't look to be in good shape, but that wasn't really what she was thinking about although she tried to focus on how to repair the damaged ship. She was thinking about one thing…Jimmy.

"_He can't be gone; I won't believe he's gone. There is no trace of his body or and parts of Goddard so I just have to believe he's alive. He just has to be or we won't get home."_ She thought to herself.

Libby approached Cindy and stopped then she saw Cindy sniff and wipe what seemed to be tears away.

"Hey Cindy." Libby said in a low voice as she placed a hand on her shoulder. "We're all worried about Jimmy and Goddard, but I believe they are still alive."

Cindy shrugged Libby's hand off her shoulder, attempting to indicate that she wanted to be alone, but Cindy knew it would take a lot more than that to make Libby go away and she really didn't have the energy to so she turned her head slightly in Libby's direction and then sighed again.

"I know how you feel about him deep down." Libby said.

"Do you Libby? Do you really know how much he is on mind?" Cindy asked, but, after she quickly thought about what she had said, knew that she shouldn't have said it.

"Probably nearly every moment of the day and at this particular time I would say every moment. Your focused on believing he's alive and don't want him to be gone as you love him Cindy. You love him more than I probably know."

Cindy turned around, her green eyes slightly blurred by tears welling up inside her. She hadn't imagined this would be how she would tell Libby of how she truly felt about Jimmy, but it seemed as though it didn't really matter, plus deep down she knew she needed to tell someone. Cindy threw her arms around Libby and started crying; Libby put her arms around Cindy and held her.

"We'll get back home. I don't know how but I just know we'll get back home." She said, hoping that she would be right. "But now we've got to focus on trying to make this ship space worthy and you're the only one here who has any idea on how we fix this thing."

"Your right, I'm sure Jimmy would rather have us try to get back home than just sit here doing nothing and speculate about him." Cindy said as she wiped her eyes dry.

"That's the spirit Cindy." Libby smiled.

* * *

The sensation of cold air rushing across his face caused Jimmy to start to come around. The first thing he felt was a thumping headache and when he tried to put his left hand on his head, he was greeted with a shockwave of pain flowing through his body. He groaned in agony and opened his eyes…and nearly fell off Goddard, clutching one of the handlebars at the last moment with his right hand and steadied himself. He looked down and recognised he was back on Earth; Retroville to be precise.

"Goddard? What are we doing in Retroville?" He asked. "Hang on…where are the others?"

Goddard whimpered in response and started to descend as they approached home. Outside Jimmy's house, Jimmy saw his parents, Sheen's dad, Libby's parents, Carl's parents and Cindy's parents.

"_Why do I get the feeling this is a bad sign?"_ He asked himself.

* * *

Cindy walked back into the wrecked ship and stood in front of her friends and faced them.

"Hey Cindy." Carl said.

"Okay guys, we're going to get this rust bucket working again and we're going to go home. We can't count on rescue since we don't have a clue if anyone knows we are in space except for Jimmy and Goddard, and there's no way of knowing where they are." Cindy told them.

"But how do we go about repairing this thing? We don't have any tools or any knowledge on how Jimmy rigged this thing up." Libby said to Cindy.

Cindy grinned and pulled something out of her pocket.

"Is that…don't tell me you stole Jimmy's Hypercube!" Libby exclaimed.

"Correct and wrong at the same time. It is a Hypercube but it's not Jimmy's; it's mine. Jimmy made one for me for my sixteenth birthday and luckily I just happen to have a number of tools inside it to make a start on repairing this thing." Cindy explained.

"You carry tools around with you?" Sheen asked, looking as Cindy with a disturbed expression on his face.

"After ten years worth of adventures with Jimmy Neutron, let's just say it's better to be prepared for everything that can go wrong as it generally will."

"Okay, but, we don't know anything about Jimmy's ship so how can we fix it?" Carl questioned, but still disturbed over the fact that Cindy of all people kept work tools with her.

"Well, granted you three don't know much but I know a thing or two. After all I **am** the co-pilot so Jimmy did tell me some things about this ship and its design so I'll tell you all what I need done and tell you how to do it." Cindy told them.

"Those Chemistry and Physics grades had better come in handy today." Libby commented as they began listening to what Cindy wanted done.

* * *

"Look! It's Goddard in the sky with…Jimmy on his back!" Mr. Estevez stated, pointing up in the sky at Goddard.

"At last, now we can find out what happened to our kids." Mr. Wheezer said.

A few moments later Goddard landed on the front lawn and the parents rushed over to Goddard and Jimmy.

"James Isaac Neutron! Just where do you think you have been?!" Judy demanded to know from her son.

"And where are the rest of our kids?" Mrs. Folfax asked.

"I can explain! It's not my fault! Sheen did it!" Jimmy blurted out trying to appear innocent of anything that had gone wrong.

"You better start young man." Judy told him.

"Well…you know I kinda told you we were going to the Candy Bar and generally hanging around Retroville all day? Well actually I took everyone to some asteroids to mine for a new material I found for scientific purposes." Jimmy confessed.

"So what happened next Jimbo?" Hugh asked.

"Well, after finding some samples we started to return home but we were attacked by that blasted Eustace Strych and Professor Finbarr Calamitous. They fired missiles at us and we evaded them but the manoeuvres that I was forced to do to avoid getting destroyed meant we all kind of blacked out. The last thing I remember was seeing five more missiles heading for my ship and telling Goddard to take evasive action. I don't exactly know how I'm still alive really." Jimmy explained.

The parents all looked shocked after hearing what Jimmy had told them.

"So where are the others?" Hugh asked, finally breaking the silence.

"I…don't know." Jimmy replied. "Goddard? What happened after I blacked out?"

Goddard whined and opened his back to allow a screen to come out. He played a tape showing what happened from Goddard's eyes. They all watched with great interest.

* * *

Goddard extended one of his arms to grab the co-pilots control stick and positioned himself in-between both seats. He turned around and changed vision to a heat source tracking based vision so he could see the missiles through the back of the ship. He pulled back on the pilot stick hard so the ship went into a steep vertical climb as the missiles rushed through the area the ship had once been.

The missiles turned around and lurched towards the ship once again, however Goddard rotated the ship to the right and turned it left causing one of the missiles to collide into another detonating both of them. The radar bleeped violently as Calamitous' ship came closer and began firing laser cannon blasts at Jimmy's ship. One blast caught Jimmy's ship on the tip of the nose and scythed some armour plating off. Goddard moved the ship from left to right and back again, inverting it on its axis many time in an attempt to avoid the cannon blasts and evade the three remaining missiles.

Unfortunately, a clever ploy by Calamitous caused one of the missiles to slam into the armour plating just above one of the engines on Jimmy's ship. Calamitous fired a number of cannon blasts aimed just in front of Jimmy's ship, causing Goddard to have to turn the ship, which meant the missile was able to connect with its target.

Goddard howled and had no choice but to switch the engine off. The cannons stopped as the last two missiles homed in on the ship. Every second they got closer until one of them hit the ship on its belly. The explosion came slightly muffled and the sound of metal shredding off was plainly audible. The unconscious five were all thrown about in their seats, but the ship survived somehow. Goddard turned to look out on of the side windows to see the asteroid samples drifting into space as the final missile slammed into one of the asteroid pieces and exploded. Fragments of asteroid slammed into the ship causing more damage to it, although it was minor damage. Finally, another blast from Calamitous' ship hit Jimmy's ship in the rear end and sent it spinning into space.

* * *

Goddard closed down the screen and lifted up the front of his chest and typed: 'I was able to get the ship to crash land on Io. However, it suffered heavy damage in the crash and seems almost impossible to fully repair but everyone survived.'

"Jimmy, do you have another ship?" Judy asked. There was no response from Jimmy. "Jimmy!" She poked Jimmy's shoulder.

"Huh? What?"

"Do you have another ship?" Judy repeated herself.

"Uh…yeah." Jimmy replied. He wasn't focused on really what his mother was asking.

"_That missile to the underside of the ship should have torn a gaping hole in the ship which would have meant the end of us. Is this mineral highly resistant to explosive damage? If it is, I might be able to invent something to get revenge on Strych and Calamitous."_ He thought to himself.

"Good, first thing tomorrow we're going to rescue those children of ours. It's very late now and we need rest." Judy said.

"One thing mom, I'll need you and Mr. Estevez to come with me and Goddard but I cannot bring anyone else as there won't be enough room on the other ship for everyone when we come back." Jimmy stated.

The other parents murmured amongst themselves but reluctantly agreed to Jimmy's suggestion.

"Right, that's that settled, now off to bed with you young man." Judy told Jimmy.

Jimmy frowned but didn't make any attempt to challenge his mother; he was in enough trouble as it stood. He got ready for bed and sighed as Goddard sat next to him and whined.

"I hope they are all alright up there." Jimmy told his robotic canine.

Goddard whined again and licked Jimmy on the face affectionately. He lifted his front up and typed on his screen: 'Admit it; you're worried about Cindy aren't you?'

"W-well sure, I'm worried about all of them." Jimmy said trying to avoid going where he thought Goddard was going to.

'But you're more worried about her than the others though.' Goddard typed next.

"No, no. Er…of course not! Not at all. Why would you possibly be thinking that?" Jimmy stammered.

'The fact that you're all defensive and blushing.' Goddard typed.

Jimmy glanced at himself in the mirror and saw his face was slightly red. He cleared his throat and took a deep breath.

"Sleep mode, Goddard." Jimmy said.

* * *

The next morning Jimmy, Judy and Sheen's father stood outside the Neutron's garage. Jimmy went over to the garage and flicked open a panel on the garage door and pressed a number of keys. The door retracted up and Jimmy stood to the side on the lawn as his other ship, not nearly as big as the one he went to the asteroids on, appeared and rolled gently out of the garage and stopped on the driveway.

"Excellent. Goddard, mom, Mr. Estevez, climb aboard! We're heading to Io!" Jimmy cried.

They boarded the ship and Jimmy sat in the pilot's chair and started to prep the ship for launch, that is until he moved his left arm and yelped in agony.

"Jimmy? What's wrong?" Judy asked as she rushed to Jimmy.

"I must have hurt my arm in the crash." Jimmy sighed. "I can't fly this thing in this state."

"I'll fly it Jimmy, just tell me how to." Judy said as she urged Jimmy off the seat and then sat in it and looked over the controls.

"Okay, well, start by activating the thrusters, which is the button here." Jimmy said pointing at one of the buttons.

"Okay, then seal the airlock?" Judy asked.

"Exactly. That button there." Jimmy replied moving to the other side and pointing at another.

After a few minutes, the party of four were heading out of the atmosphere and into space. Jimmy showed his mother how to set the autopilot as they headed towards Io.

"In a few hours we'll be there." Jimmy said to the others.

"_I hope at least one sample is still on the other ship."_ Jimmy thought.

* * *

Cindy worked hard on repairing the main reactor. She had managed to stop it leaking and had been able to patch it up with some scavenged parts but the right engine was by no means repairable without new parts.

"Hey Cindy, what should we do about the nose of the ship? It's pretty bad on the co-pilot's side." Libby asked.

"We'll just have to weld some plating onto it for now; we only want to make this thing able to fly us home not get it fully operational again. Most of the systems aren't going to be needed so we can use parts off of those." Cindy told her friend.

Cindy had decided that it was time to put Carl and Sheen to work. She hadn't made them do very much as really, they couldn't do too much without being supervised and she couldn't be everywhere at once.

"Hey Carl! Take the laser cannons off the ship and bring them to me! Sheen, take this engine off and I'll see if there is anything that can be scavenged from it!" Cindy shouted to her companions.

"Do you really think this is gonna work?" Libby asked as she approached Cindy with Sheen in tow carrying some tools to take the wrecked engine off.

"I hope so. I'm just worried that we won't be able to generate enough thrust to get this thing off the ground with just one engine." Cindy replied as she moved to repair the one engine that was still functional.

Libby looked behind the ship at the marks in the ground where the ship had scraped along until it had stopped. She turned to Cindy.

"Maybe some plating came off as we crash landed." Libby said.

Cindy stopped her work and stood up. "Possible I guess though I'm not convinced leaving the ship to scavenge would be a good idea at the moment." She sighed. "Maybe tomorrow you, Sheen and Carl could go and look and I'll stay here and continue on the ship?" She suggested.

"Sounds okay to me." Libby replied.

"Hey Cindy! I got the engine off." Sheen said triumphantly.

Cindy turned to face him and raised an eyebrow. She had to admit that Sheen had done quite well considering how bad he is with hand and eye coordination even though he had pretty much shredded it off instead of unbolting it.

"Good job Sheen…but did you really need to hack it off so badly?" She sighed. "Never mind, I didn't exactly say to you _how_ I wanted you to remove it." She said to Sheen knowing that he would have protested if she hadn't said that last part.

"What do you want us to do now?" Libby asked.

"Help Carl get those laser cannons off the front of the ship. We won't be needing them anymore and I could use some of the wiring in them to fix more vital systems. Oh, and make sure they are unbolted properly and not hacked off." She told them and grinned slightly.

Sheen eyed her angrily but said nothing as he and Libby walked off to help Carl.

"_Once they've got the cannons off, I think it'll be time to get some sleep."_ Cindy thought to herself as she looked up into the sky.

* * *

After a fairly restless night, or what seemed to be night, a slightly groggy Cindy got up and stretched her back. Sleeping on the floor of a space ship was not a comfortable experience and she had no desire to have to do it again. She rubbed her eyes, shook her head and blinked away the blurry vision she had.

"Come on guys; let's get this thing running today so we don't have to spend another night on the floor." She said to the others.

"Yeah, my back is killing me." Carl said.

"I'm feeling good." Libby stated proudly.

"Only because you stole mine and Carl's seats and wouldn't share!" Sheen told Libby with a real hint of frustration in his voice.

Libby just smiled at Sheen and got up and walked over to Cindy.

"Don't suppose there is any breakfast?" Carl asked rubbing his stomach.

"Unfortunately, no. No drink either which is another reason why we need to get off this moon today." Cindy replied.

Carl groaned in disappointment and Sheen joined in. Cindy has to admit, she was hungry too but there wasn't any food in the ship and she had no food or drink in her Hypercube too.

"_Note to self: If we get out of this alive, pack food and drink supplies for the next adventure."_ Cindy thought to herself.

"So what needs doing before we can get going?" Libby asked.

"Patch up the hole in the nose of the ship, re-wire the systems and remove all unnecessary systems and equipment to compensate for the fact we only have one engine." Cindy told them.

"Weren't we supposed to see if we could find any parts of the ship that came off when the ship hit the ground first?" Libby asked.

"Yes, I'll want you guys to go a bit later once I've powered the ship up a bit to see what vital systems need fixing and we've finished on the main reactor and engine." Cindy replied. "While you guys are gone on the scavenger hunt, I'll re-wire any vital systems that need doing and mark off what we can throw off the ship."

"_Really didn't think I'd be getting my hands dirty in this kind of way."_ Cindy thought.

"The sooner we start, the sooner we can get home and I can listen to music again." Libby said.

"UltraLord! Man I'll be so glad to watch my beloved TV again." Sheen cried out.

"I'm gonna go to the Candy Bar and eat as much as I can before I pass out." Carl told the others which made Libby and Cindy give him disturbed looks.

"Cool! I'll challenge you to an eating contest to see who can eat the most before throwing up!" Sheen exclaimed excitedly to Carl.

"You're on Sheen." Carl said, accepting Sheen's challenge.

"What about you Cindy? What are you gonna do the moment we get home?" Libby asked.

"Oh, just spend some time with my mom and dad...and have a lie down on my bed to remind myself of how I could end up having to spend every night on the floor of this ship." Cindy lied, hoping the other three wouldn't notice she was lying.

Libby gave her a knowing look and whispered: "I bet you're gonna be all over Jimmy."

Cindy blushed. "No way. Seriously, I'm just gonna hang with my folks."

"Sure you are." Libby teased. "Just talk to him Cindy, ask him out for goodness sake. We all know you two are meant to be."

Cindy said nothing and just walked out of the ship and started working while Libby just sighed.

"_Cindy can be a real pain in the butt sometimes."_ Libby thought to herself.

To be continued…

* * *

Pretty much the longest chapter so far, hope you all enjoyed.

Same as usual with the other chapters and thank for reviews on the previous chapter.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own Jimmy Neutron or anything associated with Jimmy Neutron. Well, except the ship Cindy and co are stuck in I guess.

Chapter 5: Blast Off

A few hours had passed since Libby, Carl and Sheen had set off on their scavenger hunt and Cindy had been left alone with her thoughts and the unenviable task of deciding what systems were necessary and what ones weren't and what to throw out of the ship to reduce its weight. Some things had been easier than others; such as throwing out all of Jimmy's digging tools and taking the weapons controls off.

Cindy stopped her work when she heard grunting sounds coming from somewhere. For a moment she thought that it was her stomach, after all she was hungry, but she dismissed that possibility quickly as the sound just didn't sound like her stomach. She stepped outside and saw Libby and Sheen slowly walking back to the ship with Carl lagging behind pulling a large piece of what she thought was part of the ship. As Sheen and Libby approached Cindy put her hands on her hips and tilted her head to one side and tapped her foot.

"What are you two doing just letting Carl drag that back here all by himself?" Cindy demanded to know.

"Carl has been holding out on us! All this time he's had a load of-" Sheen started and was stopped by Libby shoving one of her hands over his mouth.

"Er nothing. Just felt he could stand to lose a few pounds you know." Libby vainly tried to explain smiling sweetly at Cindy.

Cindy, however, wasn't buying it.

"Care to finish what you were saying Sheen?" She asked.

"FOOD!" Sheen shouted as he was able to pull Libby's hand away from his mouth.

"What? That llama loving buffoon has been keeping food from us?!" Cindy exclaimed.

"Yeah and if someone here hadn't yelled it out we would have had more for ourselves." Libby muttered quietly at Sheen and glaring at him angrily.

"I get so excited sometimes." Sheen said as he shrugged his shoulders.

By now Carl had been able to get back to the ship. He collapsed on the floor and began breathing heavily.

"I think this is the part of the nose that is missing from the ship." Libby said to Cindy.

Cindy examined it and then went round to the front of the ship and examined the hole. She folded one arm across her chest and placed her other hand on her chin as she mentally imagined how the piece would fit, and how to sufficiently fix it back on without there being a risk of it falling off during take off or landing back on Earth. After a few moments she had an idea.

"_I could use the casing from the lasers to fix the missing part of the nose back on to the ship but I'd need something with enough heat to melt the casing into shape which may mean I'd have to fire up the engine. Really, there is no other choice."_ She thought.

Cindy walked back to her companions and stood before them, looking at each of them in turn.

"I'm going to have to fire up the engine to soften the laser cannon casings so that part of the nose you guys found can be fixed back into place. Of course I'll need one of you to hold the casings in place so they can be softened while the other two move the broken off piece of the nose into position. Then I'll need one of Jimmy's laser shovels heated up to a very high temperature so the casings can be melted onto the ship to secure the nose." Cindy explained to her companions.

"I volunteer Carl to be the guy who holds the casings behind the engine!" Sheen said and pointed at Carl.

"I second that." Libby said, raising her hand.

"I agree…wait! Why do I have to risk burning myself?" Carl moaned.

"Because Carl, Cindy is the only one who knows how to fly Jimmy's ship so she can't and me and Libby are gonna fix the nose in place." Sheen explained. "So that leaves you to make sure the casings are soft and the shovel is hot."

* * *

A couple of hours passed and in that time Carl manages to get the casings soft, with only a few minor burns, and get the laser shovel red hot. They were quite lucky that Jimmy's laser shovels could withstand intense heat without being damaged in any way otherwise their escape plan would have hit a major snag.

Cindy thrust the shovel onto the soft casings, which were being held onto the ship by Carl, and slowly moved the shovel over the casings, melting them onto the ship to keep the broken nose together.

"_Nearly done. Just need to finish the melting, let it cool down and harden, throw the excess things off the ship and write a message into the ground with one of the shovels for Jimmy should he come looking for us and we have already left."_ Cindy thought to herself.

She still believed Jimmy was alive, he had to be. There was no way that James Isaac Neutron could be gone.

* * *

"Just a couple of hours to go before we get in range of Jupiter." Jimmy stated.

"I hope everyone is alright." Judy said with some concern in her voice.

"Well Goddard said they were, but there's no telling what they might have come across while we were away." Jimmy replied.

"I would hate for you, Sheen and Carlos not to be able to see each other again. I believe they are all fine, so should all of you." Mr. Estevez said to Jimmy and Judy.

Both of the nodded at Sheen's father and smiled, believing that the missing group would be fine.

* * *

"Okay everyone, buckle up and pray that this thing is fixed enough to get us back home." Cindy said to the others as she buckled herself into the pilot's chair.

"We're going home!" Carl shouted.

"There is one thing…I don't want to raise any concern but I need to tell you guys." Cindy began.

"What?" Libby asked.

"Well we lost a lot of coolant for the main reactor after we crashed so once we take off and we're clear of this moon, I'm going to need to power the engine down a lot so it won't over heat. We're going to need to save it for when we enter Earth's atmosphere." Cindy explained. "That is if we can take off at all."

One of Sheen's eyes twitched uncontrollably. "But the chances of us not making it home are low right? We're gonna be back in time for the Ultra Lord marathon on TV tomorrow evening right?"

"Er…maybe." Cindy replied, deciding against having a go at Sheen over worrying about something pointless like Ultra Lord compared to their lives.

She had to admit to herself, however, that she wasn't totally confident about their chances of getting back to Earth, but, they had come this far and not going through with it would only mean they would almost certainly suffer from dehydration and hunger. Cindy hadn't eaten or drunk anything since they left Earth for the asteroids and she knew she couldn't last long without water. Her stomach growled and she put one of her hands on it and nervously looked at Carl.

"Carl, do you happen to have any food left that I could have?" She asked sheepishly.

Carl looked at her and then looked at Libby and Sheen. Libby frowned at him indicating to give Cindy something while Sheen just blinked a few times at Carl.

"Erm, sure Cindy." Carl replied as he pulled out a Mars bar from one of his pockets. "Catch." He threw the Mars bar to Cindy and she caught it, unwrapped it and then chomped on it quickly.

"Thanks Carl." Cindy said while eating it. Despite being a bit hard and chewy, it felt as though it was the best thing her taste buds had ever experienced…sort of. "Carl? How old is this Mars bar anyway?"

"Uh…I've had it about ten weeks now...I called him Marsy." Carl sheepishly replied.

Cindy cringed a little and continued to eat it, a bit slower now though. She still had no idea how Carl, of all people, could leave things in his pockets for so long and forget about them or seem to pretend they are toys or pets (She knew all about the Cheese ball Carl had some seventeen or so years ago which Sheen eventually ate ten years ago when Carl showed it to Jimmy and Sheen. Using Jimmy's Truth Serum on one fateful Truth or Dare night had brought that out but she wish she hadn't heard that story).

"What are we waiting for girl? Let's get going!" Libby encouraged Cindy as Cindy finished chewing on the last of her Mars bar.

"Okay, let's see how it goes." Cindy said as she started to power the ship up.

She pressed a few controls and the ship's lone engine ignited into life. She placed her hand on the throttle, quickly remembering when Jimmy had placed his hand on top of her hand when she was about to throttle the ship up as they were about to leave the asteroid. She shook the thought away as now wasn't the time to remember those kinds of moments she and Jimmy seemed to share quite a lot.

She throttled the ship up and slowly it began to gather momentum, faster and faster the ship went, barely hovering above the ground. She glanced over her shoulder to see Carl praying and Sheen twitching all over while Libby had gritted her teeth and closed her eyes.

"This is it, taking off now." Cindy said.

She pulled back on the control stick and the ship began to rise sluggishly, but it _was_ rising which was the main thing. Cindy looked across the controls and saw the engine temperature starting to rise steadily with the increased pressure to having to do so much with a low level of coolant from the reactor. She gritted her teeth and prayed inside her head that they would clear Io before the engine reached a critical temperature and blow their chances of getting home.

The ship kept slowly gathering speed as it rose higher and higher. Time seemed to drag on until finally the ship broke into space and the moon of Io slowly began to get farther and farther away from Cindy and her companions. They all cheered with delight at the first major hurdle of getting home had been achieved.

"Well the engine is at quite a high temperature, so I'm going to have to reduce our speed quite a bit to let it cool down a bit but it will take us about nine to ten hours to get back to Earth and then I have to land this thing. I'm glad there was enough coolant left to get us going." Cindy explained to the others.

"Just think Cindy; back on Earth, you can finally get together with Jimmy." Libby teased Cindy, with an evil grin forming.

"Okay I'll admit that I'll be happy to see Jimmy again but purely because he's my friend. I don't like him _that_ way." Cindy said back to Libby, more of to try and keep her secret from Sheen and Carl since Libby already knew.

"Sure and I'm dating a Hollywood super star." Libby replied.

"What?! I thought you were dating me! She's a witch! Burn her, burn her, burn her!" Sheen exclaimed, pointing at Libby.

"Oh boy." Libby rolled her eyes and sighed at Sheen's stupidity.

* * *

"There it is folks, Io." Jimmy said, pointing out of one of the windows at the moon.

Goddard barked and ran over to Judy and opened his chest and typed on the screen: 'Let me handle the ship now. I know where the ship crash landed.'

Judy read what Goddard typed and nodded at him. "If you can pilot this thing." She said sceptically as she got out of the pilot's chair.

Goddard lowered his chest plate and jumped into the seat and opened his back. Two arms came out and he started to control of the ship and take it to the crash site.

"My goodness Jimmy, Goddard really knows how to do a lot of things." Judy said to her son.

"Yep, over the years I've managed to get him to do a few more than 11,000,004 things. I've just never really told you or dad that I've made more improvements on him although I still haven't programmed him to clean up after himself. After all, I think dad has gotten use to it now, he did say once that it was almost like a hobby." Jimmy replied, grinning.

As the approached the crash site, Jimmy became confused. He couldn't see any trace of the ship and he began to ponder about it.

"_What happened here? Could Goddard be in need of maintenance or something? No trace of anyone or my ship…something has happened, that I suspect."_ Jimmy thought.

The ship landed and Jimmy got out. He was followed out by Judy and Mr. Estevez and Goddard a few moments afterwards. Jimmy looked around and saw some things lying on the ground. He ran over to them and picked up one of his laser shovels.

"They've left quite a few things here." Jimmy said to himself quietly.

"Oh my, what is that liquid there?" Judy asked pointing at a small pool to one side of Jimmy.

Jimmy looked over to where his mother was pointing and moved to investigate. It wasn't engine fuel; he knew that instantly purely because it didn't smell like it.

"That's coolant from the reactor…seems like a lot of coolant from the reactor too which isn't good and…hang on a minute. What is that over there?" Jimmy said as he spotted another one of his laser shovels next to what seemed to be writing carved into the surface of the moon.

Goddard bounded over and barked enthusiastically as Jimmy and the others approached. They all stood over the writing and they too had a flicker of hope burst open inside them.

"Goddard, scan for all human life forms on this moon." Jimmy told his pet.

Goddard opened his chest and began to scan the whole of Io. Within a few moments he confirmed there were no humans on Io, except for Jimmy, Judy and Mr. Estevez, which added more hope to the group.

"They must have got the ship working back into a functional state." Jimmy said. _"Cindy, you're so smart."_ He thought with a smile on his face.

"What shall we do with all this junk here?" Mr. Estevez asked referring to all the pieces that had been thrown out of Jimmy's other ship.

"I'll put it into my Hypercube. I don't want to lose some of these items here." Jimmy replied, pulling his Hypercube out of one of his pockets and began putting some of the things into it.

The two adults began to help him while Goddard came across a loose rock and looked at it. There was something about the rock which Goddard found odd, since it was quite a peculiar and shiny colour compared to most of the surface of Io, so he decided to scan it. After a few moments his scan was complete and the result was stranger than it appeared.

"Bark!" Goddard tried to get Jimmy's attention as this was something Jimmy would love to see.

"What is it boy?" Jimmy asked as he jogged over to his robotic canine.

Goddard looked down at the rock and then up at Jimmy. He lifted his chest plate up and showed Jimmy the results of the scan. Upon reading them, Jimmy's jaw dropped. Goddard changed the screen from the scan results and typed his response.

'It would appear that one sample from the asteroid has survived, even though it is fairly small. The rock is almost made completely of the mineral and would suffice for a thorough scan back in the laboratory.'

Jimmy, still in shock at Goddard's scan results, nodded slightly. He picked the rock up off the ground and took it to his Hypercube and put it inside. This would be a perfect sample and, if the thorough scan of the mineral's strengths were positive, if could be the key to defeating Eustace Strych and Professor Calamitous. Jimmy rubbed his hands in anticipation of using the mineral to create a new strain of powerfully strong inventions.

To be continued…

* * *

I've decided to be a bit nice an upload this chapter early, with another coming on Wednesday.

Thanks for reviews of previous chapters and the ones coming for this one.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own Jimmy Neutron or anything associated with Jimmy Neutron.

Chapter 6: So close yet so far

Jimmy stood looking at the radar intently. Ever since they had taken off from Io, he hadn't looked at anything else, which has starting to bother his mother quite a bit. At first, Judy didn't mind Jimmy standing next to her watching the radar, but now, a few hours later; it was starting to become tiresome.

"Jimmy, sweetie, I'll tell you if something appears on the radar. Why don't you sit down and relax until we are home?" Judy suggested to her son.

"I could but I don't want to. I might miss seeing the others come on the radar." Jimmy said, dismissing Judy's attempt to get him away from the radar screen.

"Jimmy, standing there isn't going to make them come on the radar any more than if you were sitting down." Judy tried again to get Jimmy to listen to her.

"I know but I feel I have to be here." Jimmy replied.

Judy had had enough by now. She knew one effective way to get him to listen to her.

"I don't want to hear it any more young man! You march yourself over to that seat and sit there until we are home, or you'll be banned from access to your lab for a month!" Judy pointed at one of the seats and shot Jimmy a stern look, although it was an empty threat.

Jimmy sighed and obeyed his mother, moving away from the radar screen and sitting down in the seat she had pointed to and began to mutter to himself quietly.

* * *

The fractured and battered ship, Jimmy's best creation until the encounter with Professor Calamitous and Eustace Strych, painfully made its way back to Earth. It's Captain, one Cindy Vortex, had managed to keep the sole engine at a low temperature for the final approach back to Retroville. However, inside the vessel, tempers were starting to flair with the cause of the aggression being Sheen and the victim being Cindy.

"Are we there yet?" Sheen asked for what seemed the thousandth time.

"We get there when we get there!" Cindy shouted angrily at him.

"Looks like someone needs to go on an anger management course." Sheen smirked back at Cindy.

"Just button yer yap of I'll button it for ya!" Cindy whirled around in her chair to give Sheen a threatening glare.

"Does a really short fuse run in your family, or is it just you?" Sheen mocked her.

Cindy growled and considered smacking Sheen, but thought better of it for now. Now her focus was on getting back to Earth, not assaulting Sheen.

"_When we are back home, then I smack him one."_ She thought to herself.

* * *

Eustace Strych and Professor Calamitous had arrived back on Earth and had begun to celebrate their supposed success of eradicating Jimmy Neutron. They sat in one of the many lounges of the Strych estate in Eustace's mansion.

"I say, that was a jolly good show up there. With Neutron and his friends out of the way, we can focus on making this planet back go back into the medieval age." Eustace commented to Calamitous.

"You forget, again, my ingenious plan will be to wipe electronics off the planet and only be restored to each nation that gives in to my demands." Calamitous replied.

"Of course, _your_ demands. What about mine?" Eustace asked. _"Once I get what I want, I'll get rid of you, since I can't follow the plan through without your understanding of that strange device you built."_

"You'll get them; don't worry your spoiled self." Calamitous assured Eustace. _"Of course you won't get them you brainless moron, once my EMP device has blown out this pathetic worlds power grids, I'll get rid of you."_ Calamitous thought to himself.

"More wine, Finbarr?" Eustace asked.

"If you please, I could use another few glasses to really enjoy not having Neutron around any more." Calamitous said with an evil smile on his face.

"Blixx! Get in here now!" Eustace shouted to his butler.

Blixx ran into the lounge and stood before Eustace, standing straight with one arm behind his back and the other across his waist, wearing his black butler outfit.

"You shouted, mein heir." Blixx said.

"Bring us some more wine, and be quick about it!" Eustace ordered his butler.

"At once mein heir!" Blixx said as ran out of the room and down to the wine cellar.

"_Ah, life is getting better with each passing day."_ Eustace thought as he waited for Blixx to return with a new bottle of wine from the cellar.

* * *

Another day had passed and Jimmy was now back home. He had taken the rock down to the lab and had begun to have VOX do a complete scan on the mineral sample to determine if he could indeed use it in any way. The scan was going to take many hours and in the meantime, Jimmy had focused on doing some maintenance work on some of his other inventions.

"That's the Shrink Ray, Chronoarch, Game Pyramid, Time Accelerator and the Slumbertron 9000 all done, now I've got to check out those N-Men vials as well as the Love Potion and the prefect candy formula." Jimmy talked to himself as he took off his face guard and placed his blowtorch on the table he was standing at.

As he moved over to where the Love Potion was kept, Goddard interrupted him, barking loudly. Jimmy ran over to the main screen where Goddard was sitting in Jimmy's chair.

"What's up Goddard?" Jimmy asked.

Goddard tapped one the keys on the keyboard and the local news bulletin came up. Goddard whimpered at Jimmy. Jimmy sighed, knowing that Goddard wanted him to watch the news.

"Alright, I suppose I had better give myself a break from working for a bit." Jimmy said as he watched the news.

'This is Ted Grimshaw with a new report just in: Possible UFO entering Earth's atmosphere, we're going live to Andy Carter who is at Retroville Lake. Andy?'

This really caught Jimmy's attention.

'As you can see, something is approaching Retroville. It's a bit far away at the moment to tell what it is but something is definitely approaching at a high speed.'

'Andy, tell us, could this possibly be another visit from the Yolkians in another attempt to sacrifice us to their chicken god? Or maybe the space bandits coming back?'

'It's possible Ted. I don't fancy either of those but from what I've been told, the military have been informed and just now they are launching a couple of jets to try and get a closer look at this thing.'

Jimmy switched the monitor off and jumped out of his chair.

"Come on boy, we've got to check this out." Jimmy said to Goddard as they raced out of his lab and up to the entrance to his clubhouse.

When they got outside, Jimmy looked up into the evening sky and scanned it, looking for the object that had been in the news. After a few seconds he located it and then looked at Goddard.

"Telescope, Goddard." Jimmy ordered.

Goddard opened his back and passed Jimmy one of his high powered telescopes. Jimmy took it and activated it, looking through it. What he saw confirmed his hopes.

"It's them Goddard! That's my ship, they've made it!" Jimmy exclaimed.

He powered the telescope down and dropped it into Goddard and activated the communications on his wrist watch and contacted General Abercrombie at the air force base.

"General, this is Jimmy Neutron. The object in the sky is one of my ships that got shot down over Jupiter a couple of days ago. Do NOT attack it as my friends are on it." Jimmy told him.

"Hmm, alright big headed young man, just make sure they land somewhere safe." General Abercrombie replied as Jimmy switched the communications off.

Jimmy looked back in the sky and watched the ship move for a few moments. Suddenly, there was an explosion from the ship and part of it tore off. Jimmy's jaw dropped in shock, he had to act fast.

"Goddard, Fly-cycle!" Jimmy shouted.

Goddard turned into his Fly-cycle mode and Jimmy jumped on.

"We've gotta get to them!" Jimmy cried as they raced towards the crippled ship.

* * *

"Earth! At last, we've made it!" Cindy exclaimed as the ship entered Earth's atmosphere.

"Quick Cindy! The Ultra Lord show starts in nineteen minutes and six seconds! Get us home!" Sheen cried, flailing his arms for effect.

Libby sighed and Carl shook his head while Cindy smacked a hand against her forehead.

"Okay guys, beginning our descent to Retroville, prepare for landing." Cindy told her friends as she took the ship down.

The ship raced through the sky, getting lower and lower when it started vibrating and shaking.

"What's going on?" Libby asked, nervous about the vibrations.

"Must have flown into the wake of a jet that has flown by not long ago; the turbulence is affecting the flight path." Cindy explained as she struggled with the controls, trying to force the ship out of the turbulence.

Cindy was too aware of what could happen if they stayed in the turbulence much longer; it would shake the ship apart. She pushed the control stick forward hard and to the left, making the ship dive down. Ultimately, that was a bad decision as it put too much stress on the left side of the ship and something gave way. A grinding sound followed by a large cracking sound filled Cindy with dread.

"Um Cindy? That sounds like a bad noise." Carl said pointlessly.

"Yeah…I think we're screwed." Cindy replied.

Finally, a very loud ripping sound was heard and then, after a few seconds, there was a small explosion which catapulted the ship off course. Cindy grabbed the throttle in desperation and yanked it back, the ship's engine powering down a way. But the ship started to spiral down to the left and Cindy immediately hauled the stick to the right, pulling back as well to try and stabilize it with some success as the ship stopped spiralling but she wasn't able to get it to level out.

"Someone see what came off." Cindy ordered.

There was murmuring and no-one got out of their seat, which didn't exactly help Cindy keep calm.

"Someone for God's sake! I can't do it as I've got to keep this thing in the air!" Cindy shouted as loud as she could, which scared the others.

"I-I'll do it." Sheen said quietly, scared of Cindy now.

Sheen unbuckled himself and slowly got out of his seat and carefully moved over to one of the viewports and looked out.

"Eh, where's the wing gone?" He asked.

"The wing? The wing?!" Cindy exclaimed.

"Yeah…the wing has gone." Sheen said solemnly.

"Oh that's just bloody brilliant! Not only do I have to land this junk pile, but I've only got one wing to do it with!" Cindy yelled.

Sheen went back to his seat and buckled himself in. The group sat all fearing for their lives and somehow, hoping and praying that they would make it out alive. Cindy had to put the ship down somewhere before it fell apart or she lost complete control of it.

To be continued…

* * *

Oh the drama! I'm so evil sometimes, especially since your all going to have to wait yet another week for the next chapter.

Hope you all enjoyed this instalment.


	7. Chapter 7

Thought I'd update now and annoy you all by making you think you'd have to wait until Wednesday for this chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Jimmy Neutron or anything associated with Jimmy Neutron, except the ship Cindy and the others are in.

Chapter 7: Crash landing (again)

Jimmy knew time was short. With each passing second he closed the gap between himself and the ship but also the ship came closer to crashing. He hadn't really thought out _how_ he could save his friends but he hoped he could deal with that when he reached the ship.

"Come on Goddard, we've got to get there in time. We just have to." Jimmy encouraged his pet.

Jimmy watched as the ship started to fall further down, its speed increasing at a seemingly unstoppable rate. Rescue was starting to look more unlikely with each moment.

* * *

As the ship began to plummet down, Cindy fought desperately with the controls, vainly trying to stop the ship from spiralling out of control and killing them all. She had to find somewhere to make an attempt at landing. An idea hit her.

"Retroville Lake! I can put the ship down along the lake's edge!" She shouted with renewed hope.

"Do it, and less talkin' and more flyin' Cindy." Libby said through gritted teeth, holding on to her seat for life.

Cindy loosened her grip on the stick to allow the ship to go left a bit so it would get in line with the lake. She activated the landing gear…except nothing responded.

"Oh that's just bloody wonderful! That explosion must have been the hydraulics going! We've got no landing gear available to us!" Cindy shouted angrily, cursing their bad luck.

"Quick! Press the reset button and we'll start over again!" Sheen suggested rather stupidly.

"Sheen, that's for Jimmy's game pyramid thingy, not for real life." Carl explained to Sheen.

"Oh yeah, I forgot again." Sheen replied.

"Will you two kindly focus on where we are rather than making stupid comments?!" Cindy asked furiously. "And come up with some suggestions as to where we can land that won't kill us."

"Land us in the water?" Carl suggested rather quietly.

"_Water…might work, after all, what other choice do we have?"_ Cindy asked herself in her mind.

She changed the direction of the ship slightly so it was now headed for the water rather than the edge of the lake. Somehow, she hoped she could get the ship to stop near the land and not run the risk of drowning in the middle of Retroville Lake.

The seconds passed and the ship raced closer to the lake, getting lower and lower to the ground. Cindy kept her focus fully on where she was aiming to crash land the ship. She gritted her teeth and kept a firm grip on the control stick as the ship slammed through some tree tops on its way down. With the ship just about to go over the water, she yanked the throttle back a way and the ship began to plummet even more before she pushed the throttle forwards again, forcing the engine back into full power. The ship picked up a bit more speed before hitting the water, the initial contact almost knocking Cindy out of her chair but she managed to keep herself on it and not lose control of the ship much. The ship sprayed thousands of gallons of water to its sides as it began to make contact with the water a lot more before, finally, the engine died out and the ship slowed, being slowed down considerably by the water and finally resting on the eastern edge of Retroville Lake, the bottom couple of feet of the ship under water.

"Are we alive?" Sheen asked hopefully.

"I think so." Carl said as he checked himself for a pulse.

Cindy got out of her chair and sighed in relief. She collapsed on the floor and exhaled, glad that the ordeal was _finally_ over.

"_It's over for the time being, but I won't be satisfied until I find Jimmy."_ Cindy thought.

"You did a great job getting us home, Cindy." Libby commented to her friend as she sat next to Cindy squeezed one of Cindy's shoulders gently.

"One more disaster and I would have given in. I'm not sure if I ever want to go on another adventure with Jimmy ever again." Cindy said.

Carl and Sheen made their way over to the air lock and looked back at the two girls.

"Come on, let's go to the Candy Bar and relax!" Sheen said to them excitedly.

The girls got up and walked over to Sheen and Carl. Cindy opened the air lock and they all jumped out of the ship into the water and began to wade through it to get to land.

"Never mind the Candy Bar, I need to go home and change into a new pair of jeans." Cindy commented, the water being almost waist high on her.

"Uh, yeah, sounds like a good plan…okay, change jeans THEN we hit the Candy Bar!" Sheen agreed.

"Hmm, our parents will probably want to know everything that happened." Carl said.

"Okay, okay. We go home, change our jeans, satisfy our parents THEN we hit the Candy Bar." Sheen ran a hand through his hair.

"Well, we gotta ask Jimmy's folks if he's fine." Cindy said with an innocent smile on her face.

"But…I want to go to the Candy Bar. Stop thinking of things to do before we go there." Sheen whimpered.

"Take it easy Sheen; we'll go there eventually, just after the couple of hundred things to do before we go." Libby smirked.

Sheen fell to his knees and shouted "No" at an annoyingly high volume. His despair for cut short when there was a distant voice yelling at the group.

"Look up in the sky! It's a bird!" Carl shouted, pointing at the approaching object.

"It's a plane." Libby said.

"It's Jimmy!" Cindy shouted excitedly. "Oh…and Goddard too." She laughed nervously as Libby looked at her and raised an eyebrow knowingly.

"Hey Jimmy!" Sheen shouted.

Jimmy and Goddard landed and Jimmy leapt off of Goddard. He embraced Sheen, Carl and Libby in a hug before turning to Cindy. For a moment, time seemed to stand still as he stood before her. The burning desire to just a kiss full on the lips was almost overwhelming, yet somehow, someway and slightly disappointingly he resisted the temptation and just embraced her in a hug. Had they been alone it might have been different, but they weren't alone so he couldn't do it.

"_To be so close to her, and yet, so far. Why can't we just be alone, this is the perfect moment to tell her."_ Jimmy thought to himself.

Cindy put her arms around Jimmy and held him, it was something she needed although, like Jimmy, she wanted the exact same he wanted.

"_I can't go on like this, trying to hide my feelings. If we were alone, then maybe I might have found the courage to do it."_ She thought.

The two hugged for a while, slightly unaware of exactly how long they were hugging for and they only really noticed when Libby whispered something to Sheen and Sheen started sniggering before telling Carl what Libby had said to him and Carl laughed. The two broke the hug and looked over at their friends before looking at each other and realising just how long they had been hugging for.

"Well…uh…you know I've, er, missed you all, yeah." Jimmy struggled to say, hoping he could bluff his way out of the embarrassment.

"Missing a certain someone more than the rest of us?" Libby asked, raising an eyebrow and grinning at Jimmy.

Jimmy twiddled his thumbs and turned away slightly with his cheeks starting to go red.

"Erm no, no. Missed you all a lot, no one person more than another, nope not at all. Why would you think that?" Jimmy asked on the defensive.

Libby shook her head and just smiled at Jimmy.

"I think Cindy has missed Jimmy." Carl said.

"Well, of course! You know, he is my friend." Cindy replied innocently, knowing full well that Carl was playing at.

"Of course, but, you know what I mean." Carl told her with a grin forming on his face.

"No, no I don't I'm afraid Carl. Enough of the chit chat, let's get home as my jeans are soaked." Cindy said quickly.

Cindy and Jimmy began walking away, followed by Goddard. Libby waited a few seconds before shouting to Jimmy.

"Hey Jimmy! What about your ship?" She asked.

Jimmy stopped and turned around. His eyes moved from Libby to the wreck that was his ship. He sighed and beckoned for Goddard to come closer to him.

"Probably have to leave it here for now until I can get some of my tools from the lab and take it apart piece by piece so I can transport it back to the lab." Jimmy explained to Libby.

Goddard sat next to Jimmy and looked up at him, waiting for an order from his master.

"Scan the ship and show me what condition it is in Goddard." Jimmy said to his pet.

Goddard barked and flew to the ship and began to scan it.

* * *

"I say, this wine is excellent quality." Professor Calamitous stated as he took a sip of his wine.

"Oh I concur, most delicious." Eustace agreed. "How's about watching the news to see what's wrong in the world today?"

"For once, that isn't a bad idea. I could enjoy watching other peoples pain some more." Calamitous replied as Eustace switched the TV on.

'We've just received a message from General Abercrombie saying that the object is in fact a ship created by Jimmy Neutron…'

"What? Impossible!" Calamitous shouted.

'…and Jimmy himself is making the effort to try and see if he can prevent the ship from crash landing into Retroville but it looks as though whoever is piloting the ship seems to be bringing it down here in Retroville Lake.'

"How did Neutron survive?" Eustace asked rhetorically.

"Well, if Neutron hasn't kicked the bucket, then I think we can incorporate him into our next phase." Calamitous growled.

"What do you mean?" Eustace asked rather confused.

"I mean we give him a little hint about what we are up to and a chance for him to stop us. But of course we'll have laid a trap for him and when he shows up to stop us, we'll defeat him and this time we'll make sure he won't be back!" Calamitous explained to his dim witted ally.

"Ah, I see. Sounds delightfully exciting!" Eustace said rubbing his hands together.

"Yes, indeed. Jimmy Neutron will regret the day he did not die in space once the EMP device has been activated." Calamitous laughed maniacally.

To be continued…

* * *

Things really will get going now that Calamitous and Strych know that not only did Jimmy survive, but so did all his friends.

Find out what happens next time!


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I, still, do not own Jimmy Neutron and anything associated with Jimmy Neutron. Of course, you all know about what I do own and so on.

Chapter 8: The Clock Starts Ticking

"Ah man, that was an awesome duel. I couldn't eat another bite." Sheen said as he slumped down into his seat at one of the tables at the Candy Bar.

Sheen and Carl had had their challenge of seeing who could eat the most before being sick and Sheen had won, much to Jimmy's surprise who had the unfortunate task of being the referee for the duel.

"You've gotta lot to pay for. Here's your bill, yeah." Sam said as he handed Jimmy the bill.

Jimmy read the bill and sighed. $73 worth of food and drinks they had consumed this afternoon, with over $55 of it being from Sheen and Carl's duel.

"I hope you guys are gonna pay me back for this." Jimmy said to his friends as he got out of his seat and went up to the counter to pay Sam.

"Don't worry Jim, we'll pay eventually. Don't forget, we've got our jobs at McSpankys starting next week." Carl replied to Jimmy.

"Man, working at McSpankys again, one of the best things ever." Sheen commented to Carl as he began to day dream of manning the drive thru again.

"Yeah, I loved cooking all of the food, it was an awesome job. Hope it will be the same again." Carl replied as he began to day dream too.

Their day dreams were short lived, however, as Jimmy came back to the table and lightly slammed his hands on it.

"Okay guys, I'm off. I've got to get back to the lab and see how my duplicating machine is working with that mineral we found." Jimmy said to them.

"Huh?" Sheen said.

Jimmy rolled his eyes and left, leaving Carl and Sheen alone. Carl looked at Sheen.

"Hey Sheen, what do you think Jimmy will call that thing?" Carl asked.

"What thing?"

"That mineral thingy."

"I dunno, something to do with him probably." Sheen replied, shrugging his shoulders.

Carl was about to speak again when Cindy and Libby entered the Candy Bar and came over to sit with the two young men.

"Hey girls, what's up?" Carl asked.

"Nothin' much really." Libby replied as she sat next to Sheen and kissed him on the cheek.

"You guys know why Jimmy ain't with you?" Cindy queried, having seen Jimmy in his hovercar heading home presumably.

"Said something about his lab and a mineral." Sheen said to Cindy.

"It's been ten days now since we got home, you'd have thought we would have made some progress on it by now. I'm starting to worry about him as he's spending a hell of a lot of time down there." Cindy told her friends.

"Ah don't worry about a thing Cindy, he's fine." Libby said trying to dispel Cindy's concerns.

"_I'm not convinced; Jimmy has been acting a little odd in my opinion for the last week. Maybe I should see if I can drag it out of him."_ Cindy thought.

"Anyway, what do you two think Jimmy will name that mineral if it's good enough for him to use?" Carl asked Cindy and Libby.

"Probably something like 'Neutrainium' or something close to that." Cindy replied allowing a slight smile to appear on her face.

"I think we can all agree that his surname will be in it, but I think he'll put something else in there too." Libby said.

"Like what?" Cindy asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, I was thinking of maybe part of someone else's surname too." Libby told the group and grinning about it.

All three of them knew that Libby was on about Jimmy adding part of Cindy's surname but Cindy still didn't realise that Carl and Sheen knew all to well about her secret.

"_Not sure what I should say to that so perhaps I won't say a thing until later."_ Cindy thought to herself.

* * *

Jimmy was working diligently in his lab. The results of VOX's scan had been encouraging to him, but time was short. Jimmy had been working extremely hard over the past week, rather too hard really as he hadn't allowed himself much time to sleep. With his ship in no shape to fly back to Io and mine more of the mineral, he'd had to use one of his more unpredictable inventions; The Duplicator Mark V.

The Duplicator allowed him to replicate anything that was placed within it, in theory, but it was unstable and some things would not replicate fully and other things just didn't simply appear. One time he tried to replicate a fusion cell and the cell cracked apart during the replication process. Jimmy was lucky that the cell hadn't exploded or he wouldn't be alive today.

"Well Goddard, I've managed to get the mineral into a sheet of metal. Just need to take it outside and test it's resilience to see if the duplication was successful." Jimmy said to his pet.

'What about a name for it?' Goddard typed.

"I've already thought of one." Jimmy stated proudly.

'What is it?'

"Neutexium…and before you say anything it's nothing to do with Cindy. It just sounds cooler than Neutronium." Jimmy explained.

'Sure it is, and I have the intelligence of Sheen.' Goddard whined and turned his head to one side as Jimmy read what he typed.

"Just take the metal to the hangar bay beneath the garage so I can take it outside." Jimmy ordered.

'As you wish, my Lord.' Jimmy knew that Goddard was being sarcastic even though Goddard couldn't put a sarcastic tone on writing.

Jimmy sighed as Goddard walked away and dragged the sheet of metal behind him. Once Goddard was gone, Jimmy accessed his files on his main computer and opened one particular document he had received originally as a letter but he had scanned it onto his computer and began to read it out loud to himself. It was from Professor Calamitous.

"'Dear Jimmy, so nice of you to have survived our last encounter. You are smarter than I gave you credit for and your friends aren't nearly as incompetent as they seem as well. You'll be delighted to know that I am going to tell you our next plan of action. I'm in a good mood you see so I decided to let you have a chance of saving the world.'" Jimmy read out. He slammed his hand on the desk at the thought of what Calamitous was going to do.

"'You see, I've created a special type of EMP device, one that when activated, will plunge this world into darkness! Think of it; no electricity or power of any kind will work. Transport will be permanently disrupted, planes will never fly and lights will never work! Unless, that is, nations give in to my demands. You see, thanks to completing that last self-help class, I've created some devices that are immune to the EMP effect and thus anything that has one of them attached will be immune from the EMP device. My device will be ready to activate in two weeks from the day you get this letter so you had better hurry if you want to save the world, James. Ta ta.'" Rage was coursing through Jimmy's veins.

"I haven't been this angry since I was mutated by the Van Patten Radiation Belt years ago. I've got to make a walker and cover it with Neutexium if I am to stop Calamitous and his ridiculous scheme." Jimmy gritted his teeth as he spoke to himself. "But I need to test the Neutexium before I can get too far ahead of myself. It's the key to stopping Calamitous and Strych."

Jimmy sank into the chair and sighed deeply, there was so much to do and time was running out. There was a lot of pressure on him although no-one knew what was coming except for Goddard and himself. He was so very tired too, not more than twelve hours sleep collectively in the past week.

"_Maybe I could catch a few minutes worth of rest."_ Jimmy thought as he closed his eyes.

No sooner than had he gone to sleep, he was woken up by a knocking on his clubhouse door and someone yelling at him. He opened his eyes and activated the camera at the clubhouse entrance and saw Cindy pounding on the door.

"Jimmy! Let me in!" She yelled, looking directly at the camera.

Jimmy yawned and pressed the flashing blue button on his keyboard which caused the 'Welcome' mat to slide away and allow Cindy to fall down the access tube and into the lab.

"Ouch! Why can't you put a mat or something down for us to land on?" Cindy groaned as she fell on the cold floor.

"What's up?" Jimmy asked.

"Apart from a painful spine you mean?" She asked sarcastically.

Jimmy rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Seriously, you are 'What's up' Jimmy. You've been acting really off for a week now and we barely see you." Cindy explained with a note of concern in her voice.

"Nothing is wrong." Jimmy lied. "Just about to test the metal I've managed to duplicate. Come on, you can help me test its resilience."

"Well…" Cindy started but was cut off by a tube coming down above her and sucking her up and out of the lab.

Jimmy chuckled as Cindy yelled something at him and proceeded to make his way out of the lab.

* * *

About thirty minutes had passed and Jimmy was ready to test the thin sheet of metal he had been able to create. It was held upright and a good fifteen yards from where Jimmy was standing, waiting for a purpose.

Carl, Sheen and Libby had joined Jimmy, Cindy and Goddard at Jimmy's request.

"So, what's the name of this thing then?" Libby asked Jimmy, eager to know.

"Erm, I've called it Neutexium." Jimmy replied looking away from his friends.

"You owe me five bucks, Carl." Libby said to Carl.

Carl whined as he handed Libby five dollars.

Cindy looked over at Libby and Carl, rather confused as to why they had made a bet over what Jimmy would call it. At the same time she began to wonder Jimmy's motives for the "tex" part of the name.

"_Could he really have named it after me too? Why would he though?"_ She asked herself in her mind.

"Okay, let's see what kind of strength this thing has. Goddard, fire an Ion blast at it!" Jimmy demanded, taking the attention back to where it should be.

Goddard opened his back and a large, two barrelled gun popped out and extended to its full length. Goddard aimed at the sheet of metal and began to fire at it. The Ion blasts hit the metal full on for a period of ten seconds before Jimmy told Goddard to stop. Jimmy walked up the sheet of metal and examined it.

"It's…it doesn't even have a scratch on it. It's as if nothing hit it at all! This is brilliant!" He cheered excitedly.

"Okay, try a Plasma cannon blast, one at full power." Jimmy told Goddard.

The Ion cannon folded away and the Plasma cannon came out and extended to its full length, much like the Ion cannon had. The energy began to charge and the end of the Plasma cannon began to glow a bright reddish-yellow colour as more and more energy built up. Jimmy moved back to where the others were standing and kept an eye on the Plasma Cannon's charge, once it was full he told Goddard to attack.

"Fire!"

The Plasma energy was released and the bright ball of hot Plasma energy cut through the air and impacted on the Neutexium, steam covering the sheet of metal. Again, Jimmy went over to inspect the Neutexium once the steam had cleared and the results were astonishing.

"Nothing…not a scratch and not even any sign of heat, this thing is amazing." Jimmy said to the others.

"What now?" Cindy asked.

Jimmy was about to answer when he noticed Carl and Sheen were gone. He looked around and saw them messing about in his hovercar.

"Sheen! Carl! What are you two doing?" He shouted to them.

Sheen turned around too fast and lost his balance. He reached out to grab something and ended up pressing the fire button on the hovercar's controls. The missile on board roared out of the hovercar and was aimed straight at the Neutexium.

"No! Sheen what have you done?!" Jimmy shouted angrily as he watched the missile head straight to the Neutexium.

The missile collided with the metal sheet and exploded, the surrounding area covered with the small fiery blaze and smoke rising into the air.

"Nnnnoooooooooooo!" Jimmy cried out as Sheen and Carl got out of Jimmy's hovercar.

"Er…oops." Sheen said quietly.

"Nice going Sheen, you've ruined Jimmy's metal thing!" Carl exclaimed.

"Me? You're the one who wanted to see if Jimmy had any food in his hovercar!" Sheen protested.

"Shut it, both of you!" Cindy yelled as she slapped both Sheen and Carl across the face. It felt good doing that, she had to admit to herself.

Sheen and Carl both yelped in pain and rubbed their cheeks.

"Hey, guys look! The metal…it's…" Libby began and stopped suddenly.

Cindy turned around and her jaw instantly dropped. She couldn't believe what she was seeing.

Jimmy looked up from the ground and his eyes widened.

"No…it's not possible is it? It's…it's…still in perfect condition!" Jimmy babbled as he ran over to the sheet of Neutexium.

It was true; the Neutexium was in perfect condition. Not a scratch to be seen on it and not a dent in sight, nor any damage of any kind from the direct hit of the missile.

"The Neutexium is the key to stopping Calamitous and Strych. The clock is ticking and Jimmy has his ultimate weapon to stop them." Jimmy whispered to himself.

To be continued…

* * *

Another chapter done and another week to go before you all find out what happens next (laughs evilly).

Thanks for reviews received and ones that are about to be.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: As always, I don't own Jimmy Neutron or any of the gizmos and people associated with Jimmy Neutron, except for the things in this story that never appeared in the show (such as the Neutexium).

Chapter 9: Gaining the Upper Hand

Time was running short for Jimmy. He had almost finished his creation, a large mechanized walker fully covered in Neutexium armour plating and armed with a Fusion powered gun that was located on the walker's right arm (the gun using the same type of technology that Goddard has, something large that folds into something much smaller and fits into a compartment) and a large sword, which fitted onto the walker's back, which would enable the walker to engage in melee combat as well as ranged combat. Both the hilt of the sword and the whole of the gun were covered with Neutexium as well to add strength to the weapons.

As for controlling the walker, it was a fairly simple design of sensors which would be attached to a suit that Jimmy had made. The sensors could detect any movement that Jimmy made and the walker would move the same, so if Jimmy raised his left arm, the walker would raise its left arm and so on.

"It's nearly ready Goddard, I just need to test the left arm to make sure the sensors are working properly, then cover it with the Neutexium armour plating and finally attach it to the walker. Calamitous and Strych will be in for the biggest surprises of their lives when they find out their weapons are worthless against the armour on my walker." Jimmy explained to Goddard and began to rub his hands together.

'What if the Neutexium is flawed and they find a weakness?' Goddard typed.

"Pfft. If a missile powerful enough to sink a ship couldn't even leave a mark on it, then those two won't have anything that can harm the armour at all. Victory will be assured before the battle had even begun." Jimmy replied, laughing off Goddard's concerns.

'Still, having a Plan B for once wouldn't hurt. I'm sure Cindy would be more than happy to help you.' Goddard suggested.

"One: Why start now. Two: I don't need Cindy's help."

'And three: You don't want to risk losing her.' Goddard typed, mocking his master's secret affection for Cindy.

"_No I don't. Why should I place her in jeopardy over something where the outcome is already decided? It's an unnecessary risk."_ Jimmy thought as he turned away from Goddard.

There was a loud pounding on the door to Jimmy's clubhouse.

"Activate the main camera Goddard." Jimmy ordered.

Goddard walked over to the main computer and pressed one of the keys with a hand which extended out from his back. Jimmy turned and saw Cindy outside. Once she realised the camera was active she looked at it.

"Let me in Neutron, I've got something I need to show you." Cindy yelled at the camera.

Jimmy nodded at Goddard and Goddard pressed the blue button to activate the entry tube under the 'Welcome' mat. Once again, Cindy came falling down and smacked onto the floor, groaning about her spine.

"Seriously Jimmy, get a mat at least or people will end up damaging their spines, like I think mine is." Cindy complained as she got up and dusted herself off.

Cindy started to walk over to where Jimmy was when she saw the walker he was building.

"What did you want to show me?" Jimmy asked as he turned around to face her.

Cindy was about to reply when she got smacked in the face, and subsequently knocked to the floor by a giant robotic arm. Jimmy had forgotten that he was wearing the sensor glove and as he turned around, the arm turned around too only to smack into Cindy.

"Oops, I'm so gonna regret doing that." Jimmy said quietly to himself.

"Ow. Neutron! I'll punch your lights out for that!" Cindy yelled as she rubbed the side of her head.

"Please don't hurt me. It was an accident." Jimmy said nervously as he took the glove off.

"That's gonna leave a mark." Cindy said, still rubbing her head as she slowly walked over to Jimmy.

"So, uh, what was it you wanted to show me?" Jimmy asked, shrinking down a bit in fear of the possibility of Cindy smacking him.

Cindy thought about smacking him and was very tempted to do it. However she decided that it could wait as what she had come to see him about was of urgent importance. She took a letter out of one of her pockets on her jeans and put it down on the table. Jimmy looked at it and began to read what it said.

"He sent you a letter from Calamitous too eh?" Jimmy asked rhetorically.

"It's a trap Jimmy." Cindy said to him.

"I know, I know. But with the Neutexium, it won't matter one bit as they won't be able to penetrate the armour." Jimmy replied confidently.

"Are you sure? You haven't exactly done much testing on it." Cindy replied.

"I've done enough to be convinced that it's needed if I'm going to destroy Calamitous' EMP device before he activates it."

"And what happens if you aren't quick enough?" Cindy questioned.

"I will be quick enough so that won't happen." Jimmy replied arrogantly.

"Jimmy, don't let your arrogance get the better of you. You are taking on two madmen who, together, could stop you. You're taking a big risk by walking straight into their trap." Cindy warned him.

"Your concern is noted, but not needed. I know what I'm doing Cindy or perhaps you've forgotten that I'm the only one capable of stopping them? No-one else on this damn planet can stop them, I'm the one who has to sacrifice his many hours and days slaving away trying to make things to stop madmen from destroying the world. Do you not think for one moment that I haven't already thought this out? Walking into their trap is a necessity, even though it sounds stupid. It's the only way I can get close enough to that EMP device to destroy it. I've thought it all through from beginning to end Cindy." Jimmy sternly explained to Cindy, his face filled with frustration over the whole situation.

"_I really shouldn't be hard on her as she's only trying to help but this is too dangerous for anyone without the Neutexium and I don't want to lose her. I really want to try and make something happen between us but I can't do that if she isn't around after this is over. I can't place her life in danger just for my sake."_ Jimmy thought as his eyes gazed over Cindy's tall, slim and athletic form.

"_You're too arrogant for your own good Jimmy. How can you not have a backup plan if you've supposedly thought this through? I can't let you sacrifice yourself! I want you and I can't have you if you go and die saving the world!"_ Cindy thought as she turned away from Jimmy.

"I'm sorry Cindy but, I've got a lot to do to get this walker ready for the fight. Come and see me before I go if you really need to." Jimmy said to her.

Cindy sighed and nodded. There was no point in trying to argue with him now; he was too blinded by his own arrogance and faith in his armour that, what she perceived had not been tested under enough different situations. Perhaps she could convince him later, she had to or it might be the last time she would ever lay eyes on him.

* * *

"Blixx! Get in here now!" Eustace shouted.

Blixx came running in and stood before Eustace.

"Ya mein Herr, you shouted for me?"

"Have you done what was asked of you?" Eustace asked expectantly.

"Ya mein Herr. The shield on the old brainy guy's device is charging up." Blixx replied proudly.

"Excellent Blixx. Now get me something to eat." Eustace ordered.

"At once mein heir!" Blixx said as he ran out to the kitchen.

"_Time is running out Jimmy, and you're in for a surprise when you get here."_ Eustace thought, sniggering to himself quietly.

"Right, all the weapons are online and are now just waiting for me to press the button to enable them to shoot down Jimmy when he arrives." Calamitous stated as he walked into the room.

"Excellent, the shield on the device is charging as we speak." Eustace replied.

"Most wonderful I must say. Not long to go now before Jimmy will be here, and we'll need to hold him off for long enough so the EMP device can activate once it's ready. I've also fitted our turrets and our own machines with the immunity device." Calamitous replied.

* * *

Jimmy looked at his watch, there wasn't long to go before Calamitous' EMP device was ready to plunge the world into chaos. Everything was ready for him, except for the fact that Cindy wouldn't cut him any slack and was holding him up, still trying to convince him to at least take her and Goddard along with him.

"For the last time Cindy, no. I won't risk you or Goddard against those two maniacs." Jimmy said to her sternly.

Cindy refused to back down, much to Jimmy's annoyance.

"I'm telling you, Neutron, it's going to be more dangerous than you think it will be. You know how much cash Strych has and with Calamitous' brains it's going to be impossible for you do destroy that EMP thing alone! Stop trying to be some kind of macho heroic guy and accept some damn help for once!" Cindy said to him furiously.

"Why are you caring so much about what happens to me? Since when did Cindy Vortex gain so much interest in Jimmy Neutron's line of business?" Jimmy asked her.

Jimmy was slightly confused as to why he had even asked that question. The question posed by Jimmy had caught Cindy off guard. Her mouth dropped as she searched for something to say other than revealing her desire for him. They stood there in silence for what seemed like an eternity, Jimmy patiently waiting for a response which was a bit surprising Cindy had to admit.

"Well…you're a friend James. I don't think I could live with myself if you got yourself killed there if I did nothing to try and stop you. I, uh, don't think many of us could." Cindy eventually managed to say.

"Well, you're the only one who seems to want to stop me." Jimmy sighed. "I'll be fine Cindy, don't worry about a thing."

Cindy shook her head and turned away; knowing that Jimmy's mind was made up and she couldn't stop him. Jimmy squeezed one of her shoulders and she turned around to face him. She looked into those almost magical deep blue eyes of his, and she began to melt inside. She couldn't help it and really, she didn't want to stop it in any way as her desire for him started to take hold. Almost without realising, she put her arms around Jimmy and held him close to her. The rush of emotions flowed throughout her body, being this close to him especially when Jimmy put his arms around her and hugged her tightly. She longed for the moment to never end but, unfortunately and disappointingly, Jimmy broke the embrace and turned away from her and made his way down to his newly created walker.

"I'll be back, I promise." Jimmy shouted to her as he got into the walker and powered it up.

"Never make a girl a promise, if you know you can't keep it." She whispered.

Cindy watched as the walker turned to face her and waved goodbye as it ran off in giant strides, heading off to the Strych estate on the other side of Retroville. She silently cursed to herself as she reflected on the hug they had shared.

"_Cindy you moron! That was your big opportunity to tell him how you feel about him! It was set up on a plate and you missed it! Way to go you big fool!"_ She mentally scorned herself.

Goddard approached her and sat before, tilting his head to one side.

"Do you think we'll see him again?" Cindy asked him.

'I do not think we will if we don't help him.' Goddard replied on his screen.

"He doesn't want our help."

'Sometimes the best way to serve the Master is to go against what he asks of you.' Goddard typed.

"What are you suggesting?" Cindy asked, looking at Goddard questioningly.

'There is still time to see if the Neutexium is flawed…and help the Master destroy the EMP device.'

"Didn't he use all the Neutexium in building that walker?" Cindy asked.

'No, one of the things he tasked me with while making the walker was to fix the ship you managed to crash land in Retroville Lake. I have repaired the ship, albeit with no weapons and it cannot make another journey into space, but I have replaced the three quarters of the wing that broke off upon your re-entry to Earth with Neutexium.' Goddard replied on his screen.

"So there is a chance yet…well, what are we waiting for? To the lab!" Cindy yelled in hope.

* * *

After a good fifteen minutes, Jimmy eventually arrived at the Strych estate. He looked at his watch which was showing how long there was to go before the EMP device was ready to activate.

"_One hour and twenty seven minutes. I've got plenty of time but I can't afford to get held up too long."_ Jimmy thought to himself.

Using the sensor gloves, he used the walker to grab the locked gates and yank them off their hinges and then hurl them with all his might at the EMP device. The buckled gates flew through the air but didn't connect with their intended target. They bounced off a shield that became visible when they hit it.

"Oh for goodness sake, how lame is that. A shield to protect their precious EMP device." Jimmy mocked.

The walker moved into the Strych estate grounds slowly before stopping when Calamitous' voice was heard over a number of loudspeakers.

"So good of you to finally come Mr. Neutron. I see you've made yourself a new toy to bring along for our game and I've also seen that you know about our little shield. I also see you've come alone which is good as we wouldn't want to put any of your little friends lives in danger now would we?" Calamitous sniggered.

"Hello again James! I must say, I'm looking awfully forward to our battle which will begin in a few moments." Eustace said over the loudspeakers.

"Activating defences now!" Calamitous shouted.

Jimmy looked around as a number of laser cannons, machine guns and missile launchers popped out of the ground and from walls. They all targeted Jimmy's walker and were ready to fire.

"Ready to die, Jimmy?" Calamitous asked before laughing manically.

Jimmy grinned as Eustace's walker appeared as well as the ship, presumably flown by Calamitous that Jimmy and his friends encountered in space weeks ago.

"They talk big but they are in for a bigger surprise than they thought they would have for me. Let the game begin!" Jimmy said to himself as he activated his walker's Fusion cannon.

The cannon extended to full length and Jimmy raised his right arm, the arm of the walker doing the same and Jimmy took aim at one of the missile launchers and shot at it, the fusion power ripping the missile launcher apart in one hit.

In retaliation, the other defences fired at the walker. Machine gun rounds pummelling the walker, laser cannon blasts hitting it too and missiles exploding upon impact. There was silence for a number of moments as the smoke blocked any visible sight of Jimmy's walker.

"It's all over now." Eustace said confidently.

But as the smoke cleared, Jimmy's walker appeared, still functioning and seemingly intact.

"What?! How?" Eustace blurted. He couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"It's not possible! Attack again; hit him with everything we've got! We've got to hold him off until the EMP device is ready!" Calamitous ordered.

To be continued…

* * *

Things are heating up now! Will Jimmy be able to destroy the EMP device? Find out next week! 


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: Well, you all know by now the things I do own in this story and everything else that I don't own but anyway, I don't own Jimmy Neutron or anything that has appeared in the programs.

Chapter 10: We fight to the Death

Cindy looked up at the screen on Jimmy's main computer. The screen was showing a timer with the estimated remaining time on how long before Professor Calamitous' EMP device became fully charged and ready to activate. Each second that passed was filling her with dread and concern.

"Come on Goddard, we've gotta work faster."

Goddard had pretty much exhausted all options on testing the Neutexium armour plating that was left in the lab and so far nothing had damaged it in the slightest way.

'A Nuclear warhead is almost the only weapon left to test on it.'

"Okay, that's a ridiculous suggestion especially since we'd all get killed before seeing if it damaged the armour in any way!" Cindy scorned the robotic canine.

'You think of something else then.' Goddard tilted his head to one side as he looked at Cindy.

Cindy jumped off the seat and walked over the armour plating on the floor of the lab. She looked down at it, rage building inside her over missing her chance of telling Jimmy how she truly felt about him, letting him go to face Eustace and Calamitous alone and her and Goddard's inability to find a weakness in the Neutexium.

'Maybe it is invincible.' Goddard whined.

"It's not, I just know it isn't!" Cindy shouted furiously and kicked the Neutexium in anger.

What she heard made her stop and slowly, she looked down. There was no pain in her foot so she hadn't hurt herself, but the crunching sound was disturbing. Once she looked at her foot her eyes widened and her jaw dropped.

"My foot…" She shook her head in disbelief. "Goddard, get me a phone."

Goddard nodded his head towards Cindy and one of his ears disconnected and landed in Cindy's hand. Cindy turned his ear over to reveal it being a phone.

"Never knew you had one on you." She said to him as she dialled Libby's number.

'_Hello?'_ Came Libby's voice.

"Hey Libs, its Cindy."

'_Yo, wassup girlfriend?'_ Libby asked.

"Long story, but can you get a hold of Sheen and Carl and get yourselves to Eustace Strych's estate pronto." Cindy requested.

'_Why, what's going on there?'_ Libby asked, very confused at Cindy's request.

"Jimmy's gone to fight Calamitous and Eustace alone and I'm certain he'll be killed if we don't help him." Cindy explained.

'_Didn't you offer to help him?'_

"Of course I did! He didn't want any help!" Cindy yelled at Libby.

'_Chill out! I'll see if I can drag Sheen and Carl away from work but it ain't gonna be easy, you might find yourself on your own for most of it.'_ Libby told Cindy.

"Okay, be as quick as you can." Cindy begged and then hung up.

She sighed deeply and threw the ear-phone back to Goddard. Cindy looked down and removed her foot from the Neutexium armour plating and inspected it closely.

"I don't understand it Goddard, how can this thing be resistant to practically every weapon invented and when I kick it in frustration, my foot leaves a huge dent in it?" She asked, hoping Goddard would have an explanation.

Goddard moved next to her and opened his chest and began typing out his response.

'Might be something to do with impact speed.'

Cindy shrugged her shoulders at him in response.

'Take one of the Master's laser swords from the bench over there and use that on the metal.' Goddard instructed her.

Cindy sighed and walked over to the bench and picked up one of Jimmy's laser swords. She moved back to the Neutexium and activated the laser sword and swung at the armour. To her surprise, the laser sword cut through the armour with ease, almost like it didn't even exist. This really didn't bode well for Jimmy's survival chances if he was hit by something in close quarters at a slow speed.

"I've seen enough Goddard; we've got to get the Strych estate as soon as possible!" Cindy told him.

She turned around and looked at the main screen to see how long there was until the EMP device was ready.

"And we've got to get there fast."

'I'll get the ship ready to launch.' Cindy read off Goddard's screen.

Cindy ran out of the lab while Goddard headed deeper into the lab to where the battered ship was. Time was very short.

* * *

"You can't keep this up forever, Neutron." Calamitous said as he began to laugh maniacally.

"You'd like to believe that, wouldn't you? A shame you didn't count on my armour being invincible." Jimmy whispered to himself.

Jimmy aimed the Fusion cannon at another one of Calamitous' defences and fired. The purple bolt of energy tore through the air and connected with its target. The machine gun turret melted where the Fusion cannon hit it and electronics began to short out, causing the turret to power down and the gun to just fall to the ground, completely harmless.

After much fighting, the Strych estate had become a complete war zone. Craters all over the grounds, the stench of twisted burning metal and as for the mansion, it had numerous cracks and holes from stray cannon blasts from Jimmy's Fusion cannon. Although one could be forgiven for thinking some of the shots were off target as Jimmy didn't like Eustace at all.

"Only seven minutes to go before the EMP thingy is ready." Eustace said to Calamitous over the comm. link.

"Excellent. I think it's time to keep Neutron even busier!" Calamitous said to himself, rubbing his hands together.

Jimmy stopped destroying the defence turrets as Calamitous' ship started to land. This move confused him slightly, but he remained focused on the task and shot at the ship a few times, taking advantage of the situation.

"Blast that boy! Strych, keep Jimmy occupied until I'm ready to fight him!" Calamitous ordered.

"Do this, do that. Why can't I give the orders for once?" Eustace moaned.

"Just do it you feeble minded buffoon!" Calamitous shouted back at his colleague.

"Alright, alright I'm going."

Eustace's walker moved forwards into view of Jimmy's walker.

"Ready for some action Neutron, or will I be too much for you to handle?" Eustace taunted Jimmy.

Jimmy didn't respond with words. Instead, the Fusion cannon on the right arm disengaged and folded back into the walker's arm and Jimmy then brought out the long, razor sharp sword that was fitted onto the walker's back.

"Oh, what a big sword. I bet you can't use it to do any good with it though!" Eustace taunted Jimmy again.

Jimmy growled angrily and charged forwards, the sword held in both of the walker's hands with it held above the right side of its head, poised to strike. The ground literally shook as both walkers moved towards each other at speed.

Eustace deployed some of the tentacles on his walker in an attempt to knock Jimmy's walker to the ground but as Jimmy got within striking distance, he started to hack and slash and ended up slicing the tentacles clean off.

"No! Calamitous, this would be a really good time to enter the fight." Eustace whined.

"I'm afraid it's too late for you, Eustace. Your going to get your comeuppance before Professor Incredibly Insane can save you!" Jimmy shouted at Eustace as he brought the sword done hard on top of Eustace's walker.

The sword began to cut through the thick armour on top the walker and Eustace quickly dived to one side as the sword cut all the way through and sliced the walker in half. For good measure, and releasing much frustration, Jimmy sliced some of the legs off of Eustace's walker, causing the hulk to crash down to the ground with the impact knocking Eustace about before he finally came to rest.

"Well done…old bean." Eustace weakly said to Jimmy before falling unconscious.

Jimmy sighed and looked at this watch, time was getting very short. The EMP device would be ready in just under five minutes and he still had to deal with Calamitous.

"Hello Jimmy!" Calamitous' unmistakeable voice crackled over the radio transmitter.

There was a heavy clunking noise followed by whirring and clicking sounds. Jimmy moved his walker past the wreckage of Eustace Strych's walker to see what was causing the noise. What Jimmy saw made him feel even more frustrated as Professor Calamitous had built himself his own walker. Styled slightly like Jimmy's one, it was a bit bigger and wider and therefore had to be heavier.

"Thought I'd engage you in some one on one action in melee combat. En garde!" Calamitous shouted as his walker raised its hands holding a large sword in them.

"Just great, oh well better not waste any time." Jimmy sighed to himself.

* * *

"Hey Carl! Get me a Mexican pilot carrying two tonnes of pineapples heading for a barbeque!" Sheen shouted to Carl.

"He got a fridge or an ice box?" Carl asked.

"You want extra tomato sauce with that?" Sheen asked the customer at the drive thru of McSpankys.

"No thanks." The customer replied.

"It's a fridge Carl!"

"Coming up." Carl said as he tossed burgers and turned fries in the deep fat fryer.

The next car pulled in.

"Welcome to McSpankys Drive Thru, how may I help you?" Sheen asked

"By getting your butt and Carl's butt out of there and coming with me to Strych's mansion!" Libby said to Sheen.

"Hey Libs…you want seven deep fat fried burgers with sugar on top and a bottle of water with pepper mixed into it? You gone nuts or something?"

"No, I'm not ordering food Sheen. I need you and Carl to come with me to Eustace's mansion as Jimmy's life is in danger and probably Cindy's too if we don't get there fast!" Libby explained.

"But…but…we can't just leave! We'll get sacked!" Sheen exclaimed.

"Well, get Carl to pretend to hurt himself badly and you need to take him to hospital or something. I don't care exactly what so long as you two get out of there ASAP! I'll give you five minutes otherwise I'll drag both of you out." Libby threatened Sheen.

"Okay, okay I'll think of something." Sheen said as he heard Libby's car drive away from the stand.

"What's up Sheen?" Carl asked.

"Libby said something about Jimmy's gonna die if we don't get to that rich guy's mansion. Er…Starch was his name?"

"Strych."

"Oh yeah. Well anyway, we've gotta go there and fool Skeet in to allowing us to go or Libby is gonna drag us out. Either way we're going, but whether we'll still have our jobs depends on us." Sheen explained.

"No problem Sheen, leave it to me." Carl replied confidently.

"Man, I wonder what Jimmy would do?" Sheen asked himself quietly.

Carl walked up close to Skeet and then held his back and began groaning and moaning.

"Woah dude, 'sup?" Skeet asked.

"I think I've slipped a disc in my back. I need to go to the hospital." Carl said trying to sound convincing.

"Talk about bad luck man, 'kay you can go." Skeet told Carl.

"I can't get there like this, maybe Sheen had better take me?" Carl asked hopefully.

"Woah, bummer. Well, I guess its okay, but try to get back as soon as possible dude." Skeet said to Sheen as they both ran out of the burger bar. "Now I'm gonna have to close the drive thru until those Sheen gets back."

Carl and Sheen burst out of the burger bar and stopped. In a flash, Sheen saw Libby and ran off towards it with Carl in hot pursuit.

"Man, Skeet is so easy to fool. That was way easier than I thought it was going to be." Carl said to Sheen as they ran to Libby's car.

They both jumped in to Libby's car and Libby then set off for the Strych estate.

"Good thing you guys managed to make something up quickly, I was about to come in and drag both of you out." Libby said to them.

"So what exactly do we have to do?" Sheen asked.

"I dunno, but it ain't gonna be good. Cindy didn't have time to tell me everything so I don't know everything that is going on." Libby replied.

* * *

"It's time to end this, when this fight is over one shall stand and one shall fall!" Jimmy yelled.

"Why throw away your life so recklessly Jimmy?"

"That's a question you should ask yourself, Calamitous!" Jimmy quickly replied to his foe.

The two walkers ran towards each other for another attack, both swords raised and poised to strike. As they got close together, the swords swung and clashed together with a loud clang. Sparks flew as the swords slid up and down each other with the sound of metal grinding against metal filling both Jimmy's and Calamitous' ears as both combatants were pressing hard to overpower the other.

Jimmy broke the lock and quickly brought his sword down and kicked out at Calamitous. The metallic foot slammed against Calamitous' walker's right leg and caused it to lose balance for a moment, just enough time for Jimmy to bring his sword round and attack again. Unfortunately for Jimmy, Calamitous was just a bit quicker and was able to parry the blow then thrust his sword forwards, making Jimmy lose his balance this time. Jimmy saw Calamitous attack and tried to dodge it, but Calamitous' sword came down like a tonne of bricks on Jimmy's walker.

* * *

Cindy's heart was pumping hard, adrenaline coursing through her body and fear engulfing her mind. She struggled to breathe, let alone find the effort to make any kind of sound to show her horror.

She and Goddard had arrived at the Strych estate just in time to see Calamitous' last attack on Jimmy, and the result of it had left Cindy fearing for Jimmy's life yet somehow, her mind kept telling her to intervene. With much effort, Cindy finally managed to move her muscles and regain focus on the ship.

"We've got to stop Calamitous before he kills Jimmy, especially since he now knows about the Neutexiums weakness!" Cindy exclaimed to Goddard.

Goddard was well ahead of Cindy in that part and had already made contact with his master.

'_Goddard? What are you doing here?' _Jimmy asked.

Goddard barked, growled and whined responses to Jimmy.

'_You did what? I gave you a direct order to not let Cindy in the lab!'_ Jimmy sighed. _'Never mind now, just buy some time so we have the opportunity to destroy the EMP device.'_

Goddard barked at Cindy to get her attention. Cindy turned her head to face him.

'Bring the ship low and fly at maximum speed towards Professor Calamitous' walker. It's the only sure fire way to buy us enough time.' Goddard had typed.

Cindy didn't bother questioning Goddard as really there wasn't enough time to.

* * *

Jimmy has shocked and mortified. The Neutexium _was_ flawed after all, and he had laughed off Goddard's and Cindy's concerns over the lack of testing. Now he had paid for that as his walker's entire left arm laid on the ground beside him after Calamitous' sword had struck a telling blow. Really, he was lucky he had been able to move otherwise the sword would have gone straight down the middle of his walker and he would be dead now.

Jimmy regained control of the walker and moved it back a number of steps as Calamitous got caught up in his joy of finding the weakness in the Neutexium. It was then that Jimmy received a contact from Goddard telling him that he and Cindy had arrived to help Jimmy.

"It's over Neutron, you cannot win now!" Calamitous laughed.

"I may be an arm down, but I still have my weapon!" Jimmy replied as he gritted his teeth.

"Then come, Jimmy, come and try to end this."

Jimmy's walker ran forwards and thrust the sword as hard as possible, impaling it on Calamitous' walker's right leg. Unfortunately, Calamitous wasn't bothered at all and actually used that to his advantage. He swung his own sword around and sliced Jimmy's walker's right hand clean off, the hand still gripping the sword.

"Oh bugger. I really need to work on my combat skills." Jimmy cursed his own stupidity as he again moved his walker away.

"Dear oh dear. Poor Jimmy Neutron lost his left arm and right hand. Your helpless now James. Surrender and you can live out the rest of your life knowing your nothing but a failure in a nice comfy cell." Calamitous taunted Jimmy.

Jimmy sighed and looked down at his feet. Calamitous was right; he had failed…almost. Jimmy heard the sound of a familiar rocket hurtling towards his position. He turned and saw his ship…and managed to move out of the way as it raced past where he had been.

"No!" Calamitous screamed as he saw the ship too late.

Calamitous tried to get his walker to duck out of the way, but he was too late. The ship slammed into his walker and ripped the top quarter off before managing to climb back into the sky. Calamitous opened the hatch after the remains of his walker tumbled to the ground and instantly made for his own ship. He still had the EMP device and it was almost ready.

"Well done you two, now comes the hard part. Calamitous has made it back to his ship and he's going to activate that EMP device in a few moments. I need you to be ready to crash the ship into the device, so I need Goddard at the controls for the exact impact point. No offence by the way against your piloting skills Cindy." Jimmy said to his companions on the ship.

Jimmy waited patiently as the EMP device started to power up. The shield surrounding it dropped and Jimmy burst into action. He activated his walker's Fusion cannon and yelled out instructions to Goddard.

"Six degrees more to the left, twelve degrees rotation to the right and five degrees up!" Jimmy shouted out as he aimed his Fusion cannon up towards the EMP device. "Go full throttle and engage the autopilot and get off the ship!"

Jimmy watched the ship pick up speed as it closed in on the EMP device. Two small dots left the ship, indicating Cindy and Goddard were off so Jimmy began tracking the ship with his Fusion cannon. The ship slammed into the EMP device and buried part of itself inside it. Jimmy waited a few moments and then fired a series of blasts directly at his own ships engine and where the main reactor would be.

* * *

The ship exploded as the main reactor went critical and ignited the fuel. The whole top half of the EMP device was vaporised, leaving Professor Calamitous with his jaw dropping just as he pressed the button to fire the EMP. His plans for world domination had been destroyed just as he had won. Jimmy had pulled victory out from the jaws of defeat.

* * *

Cindy heard the explosion and turned her head. The EMP deice was destroyed.

"Yes! We rock Goddard!" She yelled. "Or not…"

A chunk of debris, none other than the Neutexium wing from the ship, was hurting towards Cindy and Goddard.

"Oh shite." Cindy cursed as the wing came closer and closer.

Goddard attempted to dodge the wing but it was too late. He flipped over and the wing smacked him, causing him to fall out of the sky (and leave a dent in the Neutexium). Cindy screamed as they plummeted down and slammed into the ground.

* * *

Jimmy watched in horror as he saw the wing hit Goddard. His walker ran forwards in a desperate attempt to try and save them both, only for him to fail by a matter of inches…the fact his walker had no hands being the key part as his walker slammed into the ground and skidded past his two fallen companions. Jimmy opened the walker's hatch and got out and ran over to Cindy and Goddard.

He quickly checked over Goddard, how had shut himself down after the impact. Goddard would need repairs, but he was going to survive. Cindy, however…

"Cindy…" Jimmy whispered as he touched her face with his hand.

Cindy's eyes opened weakly as she looked at Jimmy.

"James…it's too late…you can't…save me." She said weakly.

"NO! I can't lose you Cindy! I won't!" Jimmy yelled back, clasping her hand with his as a tear rolled down his cheek.

"The world is safe…but I must know one thing…before I go." She said. "Do you love me James?"

The dreaded question. Normally Jimmy would have struggled for a response but deep down he knew it was too late and he saw no reason to deny the truth any longer from the world.

"I do…I love you Cindy Vortex. I've loved you from the moment I laid eyes upon you so many years ago." Jimmy replied to her.

It was like a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

"Good…I love you too. I always made fun of you…because I didn't want anyone…to know how I truly felt about you." Cindy replied weakly. "Why did you never tell me?"

Jimmy thought for a few moments, taking in the fact that Cindy loved him as much as he loved her.

"The same reason why you never told me." He replied softly.

"Scared of rejection…"

Jimmy nodded at her.

"Kiss me Jimmy, so I may be complete." Cindy said to him.

Jimmy couldn't resist. He moved closer to her and placed his lips on hers and kissed her. The years of desire and wanting all coming out in a single moment as he pressed his lips as hard as possible onto hers. Cindy kissed back with what strength she had left, the blackness slowly gaining its hold.

"Now I am complete…I love you…" She whispered as her world went black.

Jimmy looked at her as the life left Cindy's body. Tears ran down his cheeks as he cried in pain…and anger. Anger…

"_This is Calamitous' and Strych's fault!"_ Jimmy thought as he regained control and the burning hatred began to overpower him.

Cindy was dead, but Jimmy would not let her death go unpunished upon those who caused it.

To be continued…

* * *

Not quite the end, one chapter to go!

I bet none of you were expecting something as dramatic as this, all will be revealed whenever I write out the last chapter (can't make any promises as to how long it will be as I haven't actually started it yet).

Reviews are always welcome, and thanks for reviewing the last chapter.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I don't own Jimmy Neutron or any characters, gizmos and such that appeared in the TV program.

Last chapter, so here we go!

Chapter 11: Defying the Laws that be

A few minutes ago, there was a huge explosion which ended Professor Calamitous' and Eustace Strych's plans to conquer the Earth. The EMP device they had built was mostly vaporized and what wasn't vaporized was now little more than rubble on the ground where it once stood. The cost for this victory in defeating those two madmen was high.

Cindy Aurora Vortex now lay dead on the grounds of the Strych Estate. Beside her lay Goddard, who had de-activated himself upon crashing into the ground in order to stop vital systems from failing, and next to both of them was a mournful Jimmy Neutron. Jimmy's whole past had been flashing across his mind, slowly increasing the hatred and anger that he was feeling towards Eustace Strych and Professor Finbarr Calamitous.

The hate was swelling within him, with each passing moment Jimmy became angrier until he got up.

"I will get revenge on you Cindy, I swear I will get vengeance or I'll die trying." He whispered to Cindy's lifeless form.

With that, he made his way over to his damaged walker and activated it. Although the entire left arm had been sliced off and the right hand was no longer attached, Jimmy still had the Fusion cannon on the right arm. Eventually, he was able to get the walker to stand up on its feet. He turned the walker around and walked off towards Calamitous' ship, activating the Fusion cannon once more.

* * *

Libby stopped her car at what would have been the gates to the Strych Estate, only there were no gates.

"Man, it's like something out of a horror movie, just before something really evil comes out and kills everyone here." Sheen commented.

Carl whimpered at that thought and Libby just rolled her eyes.

"C'mon you two, let's go in." Libby said as she took the keys out of the ignition.

"B-but, what if something evil appears and kills us?" Carl whined.

"Carl, nothing is gonna kill you here, besides it seems to me the battle is over anyways." Libby said to him, trying to calm him down.

Sheen walked in and started looking around at the scorch marks, holes and destroyed machinery.

"What makes you think that?" Carl asked.

"Well the fact I can talk to you in a normal voice without and sounds or war is kind of a hint." Libby explained.

"Hey guys! Come quick, something bad has happened here!" Sheen yelled to Libby and Carl.

The two looked at each other and then ran over to Sheen.

"What have you found Sh-" Libby started and was cut off when she saw.

Carl reached them, panting heavily from the short run but even his exhausted breathing stopped when his eyes gazed upon what all of them saw.

"Cindy!" Libby shouted as she rushed to Cindy's side.

"Poor Cindy and poor Goddard." Carl said quietly as he knelt down next to Goddard.

Libby started to cry and Sheen put his arm around her.

"She's dead guys…" Libby told them.

"Bummer, poor Jimmy." Sheen said.

Carl was about to reply to Sheen when they all heard the sound of a cannon firing repeatedly. Sheen looked around.

"Over there." Sheen pointed.

The trio made their way to where the sound was coming from. Along the way there was more wreckage from the battle that had taken place, including the ominous scene of a walker with the top part of it torn off and with a large sword impaled on its right leg, and a robotic hand grasping the hilt of the sword tightly. Just a short distance away from that, Carl noticed an entire mechanical arm on the ground, the occasional spark appearing from the severed wiring inside the arm where it had been sliced off.

"Guys, look." Libby whispered to Sheen and Carl.

The trio came to where the sounds had been coming from. A giant walker attacking the ship, that all three of them recognised, that belonged to Eustace Strych and Professor Finbarr Calamitous.

"Then, that must be Jimmy. I bet he's real angry." Carl said.

* * *

Calamitous' ship was taking a lot of damage from the relentless attacks from Jimmy, so much so as Calamitous couldn't get the ship to take off. A real sense of dread was creeping into Calamitous' mind.

"_I never thought that boy would be so violent…there's no telling when he'll stop. If that moron Strych had done a better job of keeping Neutron at bay, I wouldn't be in this situation. Well, can't moan about the past now, I've got to get away from here."_ Calamitous thought to himself as he tried to think of a way out of this predicament.

* * *

Jimmy was furious with Calamitous, so angry and so aggressive that he didn't care anymore about what happened now. His whole life had suffered a mortal blow and all he saw now was anger and hatred, a small piece aimed at himself for his failings but nearly all of it at Calamitous and Strych. He kept firing for what seemed an eternity, slowly destroying Calamitous' ship.

"You've got nowhere left to hide, no more gadgets to use and no more help to save you. Your finished Calamitous! Finished I tell you!" Jimmy shouted as he moved closer to the ship to find Calamitous.

* * *

"Whoa, Jimmy is really mad. We've got to stop him!" Libby exclaimed.

"Why? All he's gonna do is make Professor Calamit…Cala…er Professor what's-his-name beg for mercy and forgiveness." Sheen replied.

"I don't think so; Jimmy is really upset about what happened to Cindy. There's no telling how far he'll go and I think he'll cross a line that he won't be able to come back from if we don't stop him. Calamitous is a cold hearted bastard, but Cindy wouldn't want Jimmy to murder him in cold blood." Libby explained to Sheen.

"You think he really would go that far?" Carl asked disappointingly.

Libby gravely nodded her head.

"Let's go then." Carl suggested.

* * *

Jimmy searched through the wreckage of Calamitous' ship. He had scanned over half the ship and hadn't found Calamitous yet, but with each section scanned proving negative, Jimmy's anger built and his lust for vengeance became greater. The scanner suddenly beeped repeatedly, indicating that it had found a life form in the area it was scanning.

Jimmy pressed a couple of buttons to change the vision from normal to a heat sensing vision.

"_Calamitous' body heat will show up on the heat vision, allowing me to track his every movement."_ Jimmy thought, grinning to himself as he located Calamitous.

Jimmy raised his arm so the Fusion cannon was pointing just to one side of Calamitous as Jimmy didn't want Calamitous finished off just yet, but he did want to scare Calamitous. He pressed the trigger, and the cannon fired a bolt of energy which cut into the armour plating of the ship but not quite penetrating it. Jimmy fired a few more shots, the armour plating of the ship being penetrated this time, however Calamitous still didn't appear.

"_I'm gonna have to try something a bit more drastic."_ Jimmy thought.

Jimmy aimed the cannon right at the ship's engines and fired. The engines began to overload and what warning sirens were still functioning started to blare out a high pitched noise indicating that the engines were at a critical stage.

"I don't like where this going." Calamitous said to himself as he ran out of the ship.

He didn't really have a choice as it was either get blown up by his own ship exploding or running out and having to face the wrath of Jimmy Neutron.

Jimmy turned and saw Calamitous making a run for Eustace's mansion. Jimmy followed him, stalking his prey and ready to strike at any moment. He had no fear of the ship exploding, even though his walker could get showered by the twisted and mangled remains of whatever metal from Calamitous' ship remained after the explosion. It didn't matter to Jimmy as he was too focused on Calamitous.

The ship's engines finally gave in and exploded, igniting the fuel and blowing the reactor within the ship.

* * *

Libby, Sheen and Carl all knew the ship was going to blow so they had already run to cover by the time the ship had exploded. They ended up running to Eustace's fallen walker where they found him lying unconscious.

"I sure hope Jimmy doesn't want to finish him off, not that he deserves to be around anyway." Libby said to her companions.

As the drama died down and the small fragments landed all over the grounds of the estate, Libby grabbed Sheen and took off to stop Jimmy from doing something he could end up regretting.

"Stay with Strych and make sure he doesn't do anything if he comes round!" Libby shouted to Carl as she and Sheen left.

Carl didn't respond and just sighed as he sat on the grass and folded his legs, waiting for everything to finish.

* * *

Calamitous was starting to tire out with all the running he was doing, and having to avoid the falling debris from his ship.

"Blast that Neutron, it's like he has been possessed or something." Calamitous said to himself as he dodged another piece of shrapnel.

But it was too late for him; Jimmy had caught up with him and used his walker's left foot to kick Calamitous. Calamitous went flying across the ground and groaned as he came to a stop. He picked himself up and started to run on again but he stopped when a blast from Jimmy's cannon slammed into the ground in front of him, leaving a charred and smoking hole.

"Stop right there Calamitous! One move and your dead!" Jimmy shouted.

Calamitous stopped and turned to face Jimmy. The cannon was aimed directly at him.

"Your going to pay for what you've caused today. What you've caused over the years!" Jimmy yelled.

"Jimmy! Jimmy stop!" Libby yelled as she and Sheen caught up.

Jimmy turned to see Libby and Sheen.

"What are you two doing here?" Jimmy asked as he turned back to face Calamitous again.

"Cindy told us to come here, only we were too late to help…" Libby explained with tears forming in her eyes.

"Jimmy, stop before you do something you'll regret." Sheen said.

"Stop? You want me to show mercy to this coward? This bastard that took Cindy from us?" Jimmy couldn't believe what Sheen and Libby were asking.

"Yes, don't cross the line that you cannot come back from Jimmy! Would Cindy want you to do this?" Libby wailed.

That had made Jimmy think.

"_I…I guess she wouldn't."_ He thought as he looked down at his hands. _"What am I doing? This isn't like me, I just save the world and send the villains to prison and I don't kill people in cold blood. Cindy wouldn't want that of me, that's not the Jimmy Neutron she knew and loved…Libby and Sheen are right."_

Jimmy deactivated the Fusion cannon and it folded back into the arm. He then opened the hatch and got out and walked over to Calamitous.

"Okay, I'm not gonna kill you Calamitous, but I am going to give you something I should have a long time ago!" Jimmy shouted as he smacked Calamitous across the face. "Phone the police Sheen, and we'll tie Strych and Calamitous up so they can't cause any more trouble."

"Aye aye, Jimmy." Sheen threw Jimmy a salute and took his mobile phone out.

"Thanks you two, for stopping me. I just let the anger get the best of me." Jimmy said as he walked over to Sheen and Libby.

"We've lost one friend; we couldn't lose another to something even worse." Libby replied as she placed a hand on one of Jimmy's shoulders.

"Can you guys do me a favour?" Jimmy asked.

"Sure, what?"

"Could you take Goddard and Cindy to my lab? I'll need to repair Goddard and I want to run a scan on Cindy to see what injuries she suffered from her fall. I know that sounds odd, but it'll give me something to do to explore a way to invent something to prevent that from happening again…I don't want to lose anyone else that way." Jimmy explained looking down at his feet, his eyes giving away his feelings.

"Sounds a bit odd, but okay. How do we get into your lab?" Libby asked,

"That you'll need Carl for, it's a secret that I don't share with very many people." Jimmy grinned. "I'll stay here and explain to the police what happened here. Oh and be careful with Cindy, not that you wouldn't be, as I would be surprised if she didn't suffer any broken bones."

"Ok, I'll see you later then Jimmy." Libby said to him as she and Sheen walked off.

"_There has to be something I can do."_ Jimmy thought.

* * *

That night, Jimmy was in his lab working on Goddard. He had made a number of extensions to his lab, almost meaning that if he tried to make a new lab somewhere else, it would be months before he could get up and running again. Deep within the back of the lab, VOX was scanning Cindy's form over for all injuries, on Jimmy's order.

Jimmy worked diligently repairing his robotic pet almost mechanically as his mind began to wander.

"_I don't know how I didn't figure out she felt the same way about me. We had known each other for the majority of our lives. All those dances we had, always going together, all the adventures and the incidents between us where we'd show affection. How did I not notice any of it? Ten years of all this and I hadn't clicked…and neither had she to think of it."_ Jimmy thought as he finished repairing Goddard.

Jimmy activated Goddard and Goddard's eyes flashed on followed by the lights in his brain activating.

"Welcome back Goddard." Jimmy said with a smile.

Goddard looked up at Jimmy and barked a few times happily, wagging his tail and giving his master an affectionate lick.

"Shame I can't do much about Cindy." Jimmy sighed. "I guess it was my fault ultimately. If hadn't been so lax at the start I could have done a lot more, and if I had better combat skills I wouldn't have lost all the things I did off my walker…and maybe I should have done more tests on the Neutexium to start with."

Goddard whined and nuzzled Jimmy's side.

"It's getting late, I'm gonna go to sleep. Night boy." Jimmy said as he left the lab.

Goddard walked over to Jimmy's seat at the main computer and began to look over the current scan reports from VOX about Cindy's injuries. Maybe Goddard could find a way to help his master get his life back together properly.

* * *

'_Jimmy. Jimmy wake up.'_ A voice said to Jimmy.

'_Huh? What?'_ Jimmy replied as he woke up.

'_Jimmy! I'm outside!'_ The voice said.

Jimmy moved over to his window and opened it to see a slim female figure looking at up him.

'_Cindy? Is that you?'_ Jimmy asked.

'_Yeah, Jimmy I have something I really need to show you. Can we go to your lab?'_ Cindy asked.

'_Er, okay. Wait by the door and give me a minute or so.'_ Jimmy replied as he closed the window.

Jimmy used the express tunnel to get into his lab and moved over to the main computer. He activated the camera and saw Cindy standing outside. He pressed the button which allowed Cindy to fall into his lab. When she landed she groaned.

'_Jimmy, you've done it again. You've killed me Jimmy, just like you did before.'_ Cindy said to him.

'_What? I…I didn't…I haven't…'_ Jimmy's voice trailed off.

'_I'll never forgive you for what you've done.'_ Cindy replied.

'_No! Cindy, I didn't want you to get hurt! No!'_ Jimmy shouted.

"NO!" Jimmy screamed as he shot up and started gasping, his heart pumping madly.

Jimmy ran his hand over his face and sighed, it was a nightmare he had experienced, one that had left him in a cold sweat. His bed was soaked with sweat, so Jimmy got up and looked at his clock which read 3.27am.

"I've got to do something." Jimmy said to himself as he went into his bathroom and dried himself off with a towel. "Think, think!"

"Brain blast!" Jimmy ran out of his bathroom and got dressed and took the express tunnel back into his lab.

When he landed on the floor, he ran over to the main computer and sat in his chair.

"VOX, report on injuries suffered to subject." Jimmy ordered.

"Subject has suffered severe bone breakage of the right shoulder and right arm and fractures of the skull, back and pelvis. Skull fractures are serious but no brain damage has been discovered as of yet. Additionally, subject has suffered internal bleeding in three places." VOX told Jimmy.

"Hmm, okay VOX, proceed with surgery and treatment on the subject, I want the internal bleeding done first followed by the fractures and then the broken bones." Jimmy ordered.

"Orders acknowledged, preparing subject for surgery." VOX said.

By now Goddard had woken up and had walked over to Jimmy. He lifted his chest plate up.

'I'm confused by your actions.' Jimmy read.

"We're going to Egypt Goddard. I'll explain later but first I need to leave a note for mom saying that I won't be here for breakfast. Make your way to the driveway." Jimmy told his pet as he used the express tunnel to go back to his room.

* * *

A few hours later, Jimmy woke up from Goddard barking.

"Are we there yet?" Jimmy asked as he sat up.

Jimmy moved to the pilot's seat and looked down and sure enough there was nothing but sand, sand and more sand as far as the eye could see. He checked their position on his GPS system and was pleased to see they had reached Egypt.

"Looks like we're here boy." Jimmy said to Goddard as they landed.

'So why are we in this giant littler tray?' Goddard asked on his screen.

"We're going to the tomb of Queen Hazabataslapya. Myself, Carl, Sheen, Libby and Cindy discovered this tomb nine years ago so get away from that dreadful ninety six hour documentary that Ms. Fowl made us watch." Jimmy said, shuddering at the memory of the documentary.

'You mean this one?' Goddard asked as he played part of the same documentary.

'Tonight it is my turn to tell stories around the campfire. This will be difficult without my tongue.'

"Goddard!" Jimmy shouted.

Goddard stopped the recording and panted happily at Jimmy.

"Come on boy, we've got a date with a tomb." Jimmy said as he jumped out of the hover car and began walking to the tomb's entrance.

Goddard followed closely, not sure what Jimmy was looking for in here. Goddard stopped just outside and barked.

"What now?" Jimmy asked as he turned to face his pet.

'What exactly are we looking for?' Goddard asked.

"An invention of mine that I left in here. The Electro-Life."

'Are you sure that is a wise idea?' Goddard remembered Jimmy's Electro-Life when he was making it. Goddard had assumed that Jimmy had thrown it out as Jimmy never said what had happened to it and it wasn't Goddard's position, in his opinion, to ask such things of his master.

"I know the moral dilemma behind it and breaking the laws of nature, but that isn't the way someone like Cindy Vortex should have gone." Jimmy sighed. "That nightmare I had was awful…it makes me feel ill thinking about it, how she was blaming me for her death and, well, when I think of it from a neutral perspective I can only agree with her. It was my fault; all along everything has been my fault."

'But if it wasn't for you this world would suffer from the madmen you've stopped.'

"Maybe Goddard, maybe. Or maybe it's because I'm a world famous genius that those kinds of people show themselves." Jimmy replied. "But, anyway this is all for another time. Now we've got to search for that Electro-Life device. Flashlight if you please Goddard."

Goddard opened his back and passed Jimmy a flashlight. Both of them walked into the tomb heading the room which had a huge statue of Queen Hazabataslapya in it and the three sleeping mummies after Jimmy's previous adventure there. They walked into the room where Jimmy had blast part of the wall off rescuing Carl from snakes and stopped. Jimmy turned the flashlight on and shone it around the room.

"Man, this place is still kind of creepy, even after nine years." Jimmy commented as he started slowly walking forwards.

They duo kept walking for a few more minutes until they found the room Jimmy was looking for. Goddard looked at the statue then back at Jimmy.

'Queen Hazabataslapya does remind me of Libby.'

"Indeed, which is why we were able to get those mummies to sleep forever, basically. Earth will pretty much be dead by the time they would wake up." Jimmy smirked, pointing at the three sleeping mummies that were snoring away peacefully. "Anyway, follow me."

They walked up the steps and headed to the left side of the statue where the hole in the floor was.

"Okay boy, lower me down." Jimmy said.

Goddard opened his back allowing his crane and winch system to fold out. Jimmy strapped himself to the cable and stood at the edge.

"Okay Goddard, I'm going down." Jimmy said as he picked up the flashlight.

Jimmy tightly held it in his hand as he dropped down, the cable stopping him from falling and Goddard controlled his descent. Jimmy began moving the light around to check the floor to see if he could find his Electro-Light.

"There it is!" Jimmy shouted triumphantly as he reached the floor and untied himself

Jimmy ran over to the Electro-Life and picked it up and quickly glanced over it.

"Looks like it could use a maintenance check and some repair work, but after nine years of being stuck down here, I'd be surprised if it didn't need one." Jimmy said to himself as he walked back to the harness and strapped himself back in.

Goddard winched Jimmy up and a few minutes later they were out of the tomb and back in the hovercraft.

"To be honest, I'm glad we're out of there. Lost tombs are pretty creepy places, even for a scientist." Jimmy said to his pet. "To Retroville!"

* * *

That afternoon, Jimmy and Goddard returned to Retroville. They headed to the lab only to find Carl and Sheen waiting outside the door to the clubhouse.

"Jimmy! Where have you been? We were worried about you!" Carl said as Jimmy and Goddard came over to them.

"Yeah dude, you missed a five hour special of Ultralord!" Sheen exclaimed.

"How sad I am." Jimmy replied sarcastically.

"Where did you go?" Carl asked.

"To Egypt." Jimmy said to him as he placed a strand of hair from his head up to the DNA scanner.

"Egypt? Why did you go to a place which is paradise for a cat with bladder problems?" Sheen asked as the clubhouse door opened the four went in.

"Just a little idea I had in mind." Jimmy moved over to the seat at the main computer. "VOX, report on surgery status."

"Huh?" Sheen and Carl both said, confused by what Jimmy had told them.

"Surgery on subject complete. Internal bleeding successfully stopped and shoulder bones placed back together." VOX reported.

"Guys, get Libby and tell her that I want all three of you back here in three hours. I want her to be here for the next phase of my idea." Jimmy said to Sheen and Carl.

Both of them left and Jimmy turned back to the screen.

"Hook up the brain wave scanner and heart scanner to the subject VOX, and report on status if subject is revived." Jimmy ordered VOX, waiting for her response.

"Subject estimated to have a low red blood cell level after possible revival, blood transfusion recommended but not vital. Fractures will restrict movement from laboratory for an estimated twenty day period and a further sixty day period before fractures are healed sufficiently. Shoulder bones will take an estimated eight months before subject will be able to use her arm properly again." VOX told Jimmy.

Jimmy sighed and thought about what he had been told.

"_If I can revive her, she won't be in a very good condition. But she'll be alive and she will recover eventually."_ Jimmy thought as he got out of his chair and proceeded to work on his Electro-Life.

* * *

There was a knock on the door that stirred Jimmy from his dozing. He looked at the screen as he switched it to the camera to see Sheen, Carl and Libby standing outside. The three of them fell into Jimmy's lab once Jimmy pressed the button which allowed his 'Welcome' mat to slide away from underneath their feet.

"Ow! My scapula." Carl groaned as he hit the floor of the lab.

"Waaaaa! Oof!" Sheen wailed as he landed on Carl.

"My trick knee!" Carl whined.

"Ye-ow!" Libby landed on top of Sheen. "My back."

"Mine too!" Carl complained as Libby and Sheen stood up.

"Lady and gentlemen, I've been expecting you." Jimmy said as he turned around in his chair to face his friends.

"Well duh, you asked us to come here." Libby replied to him.

"Precisely. I have something to tell you, well show you more like." Jimmy said, getting out of his chair. "Follow me."

They four walked into the back of the lab.

"What's going on in here?" Libby asked as they entered a confined room with Cindy's body hooked up to two machines.

"Good question Libby, and one that I shall answer. You see, there comes a time in life where you experience a huge injustice and you know that you are partly to blame for it. You suffer for a bit but you can't find a way to make it right. However, I have found a way." Jimmy explained revealing his Electro-Life.

The other three gasped.

"Behold! From the depths of Queen Hazabataslapya's tomb…the Electro-Life is back!" Jimmy said dramatically.

"But, what about Cindy's injuries?" Libby asked.

"All taken care of. She will be stuck here for a couple of weeks before she can really get home." Jimmy replied.

"You sure this is a good idea Jimmy? Bringing the dead back to life?" Carl asked.

"What about Swimmy? You seemed perfectly happy when the Electro-Life brought him back." Jimmy countered.

"Well…"

"Cindy's death was premature. Someone with her skills, abilities and beauty shouldn't have met her fate so early in life. Not when someone as evil as Finbarr Calamitous lives…" Jimmy said as he clenched his teeth at the mere thought of Calamitous.

"What are those things?" Sheen asked, pointing at the scanners.

"Heart and brain scanners. Keep an eye on them while I use the Electro-Life to try and stimulate Cindy's brain waves." Jimmy explained as he powered the Electro-Light.

The green beams from each metal ball on the end of the Electro-Light converged into a single beam which then went to Cindy's head. Jimmy kept the beam going, hoping and waiting for the scanners to register anything.

For a few minutes, there was nothing until Libby saw something on the brain scanner.

"Jimmy, look! I think its working." She said excitedly.

Jimmy watched the brain scanner and sure enough the straight line depicting no brain waves had a slight kink in it. It was working, the line started to slowly become a wave as Cindy's brain started to work, sending messages to her body, demanding her cells work once more.

* * *

It was cold and dark, and she was alone. Cindy couldn't see anything or hear anything. It was like she was in a dark void with nothing, nothing around her and nothing that she could remember. Until there was something, something which became a thought.

"…" She couldn't remember words but she could think.

Slowly, words began to form again, and not just words but images and memories began to filter through, allowing her to remember things like her parents and her home. What was needed to make one tonne of Steel and how to boil an egg. She started to remember her own voice and how she sounded when she was angry, when she was happy, sad and much more.

"_I…I am Cindy. Cindy Vortex. Cynthia Aurora Vortex from Retroville. I…am smart, young and attractive and…I have no boyfriend? I think…or do I?"_ She thought.

Her mind was racing as everything started to come back to her. The fight, the fall, the destruction of the EMP device…everything. In that instant her eyes shot open, her vision nothing but a blur, and she tried to sit up but only to be caught by the agony from her back. She shouted in agony when a pair of hands rested her back down.

"Cindy! You're alive!"

"Jimmy, you've done it! You've brought Cindy back!"

Cindy knew those voices. Libby and Carl. Her vision slowly became clearer and she laid eyes on her friends for the first time in what felt like an entire life time.

"Cindy, I'm so glad you're alive again." Libby said as she hugged her friend. "She's rather cold."

"That is expected, she'll warm up once her body is back in its rhythm…and I probably should install some heaters in here too." Jimmy shrugged his shoulders at Libby.

"J-James?" Cindy asked weakly.

"Cindy? What's up?" Jimmy asked.

"What's wrong with me?" Cindy was rather confused.

"What do you mean?" Jimmy was confused.

"Why do I hurt so much?"

"Fractures and a badly broken shoulder." Jimmy said bluntly.

"I feel…so weak." Cindy commented quietly.

"_Weak, but your back at least. I swear that I'll try to never make any more blinding errors like I have done over the years."_ Jimmy thought to himself as he smiled at Cindy.

* * *

A few weeks had passed since Cindy had been resurrected. She had recovered enough, thanks to a super health pill from Jimmy, to return home to recuperate. Life was still slightly hard for her with her broken shoulder, but the fractures she had suffered were mostly healed and Jimmy and Libby visited her pretty much all the time which made her feel pleased. Sheen and Carl would come round sometimes when they weren't working but really she didn't mind them not coming over too much as Carl would always end up complaining about a problem of his and Sheen would just get bored far too quickly.

This time it was just her and Jimmy, alone as her parents were out for the afternoon. Jimmy was standing at the window in her room, gazing out of it while she was sitting up in her bed dressed in her pyjamas with the heavy bandaging around her right shoulder bulging out.

"Can you remember anything about being…dead?" Jimmy asked.

"Just feeling very cold and it being very dark really…I don't know if you could remember being dead as after a few moments I was awake. I think those first feelings must have been when my brain started to race and all the images, feeling and memories started to come back." Cindy replied to him, shaking her head.

"You think I made the right decision?" Jimmy turned to face her.

Cindy shrugged her left shoulder at him and tilted her head slightly to one side as she gazed at him.

"_As inquisitive as ever and as handsome as ever. Some things never change."_ She thought, allowing herself to smile slightly.

They gazed at each other for a few moments, almost hypnotised by each other, admiring what they saw. Jimmy blinked a few times and broke out of his trance, blushing a little. He felt nervous about being around her like this again.

"_I don't know why I'm nervous; she is my girlfriend isn't she?"_ Jimmy thought. _"Well, actually no, she isn't. We never actually got together did we?"_ Jimmy lowered his head, his expression filling with disappointment.

"Jimmy, what's wrong?" Cindy asked.

Jimmy walked over to Cindy's bed and sat down next to her. He sighed and Cindy placed her hand on his and looked at him, concerned about him.

"Cindy…" He stopped. The words wouldn't form and his mind abandoned him.

"Yes?"

"There is something I want to ask you but I can't get the words to form…" Jimmy eventually said.

"Spit it out, Neutron." Cindy said.

"Okay, here goes. Cindy…erm, do you wanna be my girlfr…gir-" Jimmy stammered.

"'Girlfr?'" Cindy raised an eyebrow.

Jimmy looked away and cleared his throat. Cindy sighed at him.

"Look Neutron, we both know what you wanna say, so just say it!"

"Okay, okay." Jimmy looked back at her and took a deep breath. "Cindy, will you be my girlfriend?"

"_He's finally asked me!"_ Cindy shouted with joy inside her head.

"_My God, I can't believe I finally just said it."_ Jimmy thought as he waited for Cindy's response.

"Jimmy, I…" She stopped.

Inside, Jimmy dropped. Surely she couldn't dump him?

"Of course I will, Jimmy. You know as well as I do that we are meant to be." Cindy said with a mischievous grin on her face.

"_That little devil! Making me think that she was gonna dump me! I'll get her back for that!"_ Jimmy thought as an equally mischievous grin formed on his face.

Jimmy moved closer to Cindy and kissed her full on the lips. Cindy kissed back as she placed her arm around him.

"I love you Cindy." Jimmy whispered to her.

"I love you too." She replied.

* * *

Jimmy walked across the street and headed for his lab, he was overjoyed with Cindy now officially his girlfriend. He was humming happily as he walked past a manhole cover when suddenly the cover was moved and he was sucked down, the cover falling back into place.

"Ouch." Jimmy said as he landed on the floor.

"Welcome back Agent Neutron." A familiar voice said.

Jimmy got up and dusted himself off. He looked around and realised he was in BTSO headquarters.

"Commander Baker? Seriously, can't you just contact me by normal methods?" Jimmy asked as Commander Baker came forwards out of the shadows.

"Too risky. We'd like to congratulate you on defeating Professor Calamitous and Eustace Strych, both has been convicted for their attempt to take over the world." Commander Baker explained to Jimmy.

"So, what will happen to them?" Jimmy asked.

"Professor Calamitous will see out the rest of his days in an Isolation Chamber." Commander Baker replied.

"And Strych?"

"He's been sent to a hard labour camp for ten years, and he won't be able to buy his way out as we've taken the liberty of freezing all his assets." Commander Baker said proudly.

A smile appeared on Jimmy's face.

"We'd like to present you with this medal for your courage and bravery for defeating those two madmen. Congratulations Agent Neutron." Commander Baker said as he handed Jimmy a medal.

Jimmy took the medal and looked it over. It was solid gold with the American flag emblem imprinted in it with a blue and white ribbon.

"Thanks Commander Baker, Agent Neutron is always ready to help BTSO if needed." Jimmy said as he shook Commander Baker's hand. "How do I get out of here now?"

"Same way you came in." Commander Baker said as Jimmy was sucked out of BTSO headquarters.

* * *

Jimmy was thrown out of the manhole with just enough effort and landed on his feet. He stood up and looked at the medal in his hand.

"_I didn't really want to say this to Commander Baker, but I don't really deserve this. I know someone who does though."_ Jimmy thought as he turned around.

He knew her parents were home as they had returned while he was there. Jimmy walked over and knocked on the front door. The door opened.

"Oh, hey James." Jimmy was greeted by Cindy's dad.

"Hey, do you mind if I visit Cindy for a few minutes? I was given something but I feel she deserves it more than I do." Jimmy said.

"Okay, come in."

Jimmy went immediately up to Cindy's room and knocked on her door.

"Come in." Cindy yelled.

Jimmy opened the door and walked in to see that Libby was there too.

"Hey Jimmy, Cindy's told me about you two." Libby greeted Jimmy and winked at him.

"Yeah, well, uh, yeah." Jimmy cleared his throat as he moved over to Cindy and gave her a kiss.

"Can't stay away from a helpless damsel can you?" Cindy said to him with a smile.

"Heh, well I'm here to give you something." Jimmy replied and then thought about what he said. _"Probably should rephrase that."_

"Jimmy! Can't you wait until I've gone?" Libby mocked him.

Both Jimmy and Cindy blushed as Libby started laughing at them.

"Okay, okay seriously now. I was given a medal by BTSO for defeating Calamitous and Strych, but really I don't feel I deserve it. I couldn't have defeated them without your help Cindy, so I'd like to give you this medal for the part you and Goddard played in aiding me." Jimmy explained to Cindy, handing her the medal.

Cindy took the medal and looked at it.

"It's beautiful. Thank you so much Jimmy, that means a lot to me." Cindy said to him.

"I'd like to stay longer but I've gotta go, I've got an experiment on the go in the lab and I need to watch over it." Jimmy said apologetically.

"That's okay sweetie, you go and finish your experiment. I'll be here tomorrow." Cindy smiled at him.

As Jimmy left, Libby moved over next to Cindy and looked at the medal.

"Wow, wish Sheen would give me a gift like this." Libby commented.

"Well, you just need a boyfriend who is a genius, a secret agent and a lovely guy all in one." Cindy giggled at Libby.

"Yeah, yeah, rub it in why don't you?"

Cindy smiled sweetly at Libby as Libby shook her head.

"Well I'm gonna go home now. I suspect Sheen will call me sometime asking me to go over and watch UltraLord with him, or something like that. See ya later Cindy." Libby said as she hugged Cindy and left.

Cindy placed the medal on her bedside table and sighed.

"What an eventful number of weeks I've had. Found out I don't mind being a grease monkey, flown a decrepit ship halfway across the solar system, managed to do endure Sheen for a few days without assaulting him, crash landed safely, helped Jimmy save the world and tell him I love him at last, died in said battle to save the world and be resurrected with some bad injuries. But I have a lovely medal and now the man that I've wanted ever since I laid eyes on him is my boyfriend. The highs and lows of one's destiny is indeed a bittersweet taste, but well worth experiencing with a genius who bends the laws of nature at your side." Cindy said to herself.

Life with a genius is adventurous and frustrating at times, but it's a life that Cindy wouldn't swap for anything else.

* * *

"How are the preparations coming?"

"Very well sire. We should be ready for an attack in three years."

"Excellent. Soon Jimmy Neutron will feel my wrath and this time _I_ will win!"

THE END…for now.

* * *

Looking back on this chapter, all I can is that I'm shocked with how long it is! I never actually intended this chapter to be so long but I must have just had a huge amount of inspiration from somewhere. Anyway, hope you all enjoyed reading this story and I might well look over some of the other chapters and lengthen them in anyway if I feel I can add more.

Big thanks for using your time reading my story.

Strafe.


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